TMC's Kakoli Ghosh said she and 19 other MPs are willing to support the NDA - latest jolt to Mamata Banerjee who faces major internal strife after poll loss.

Hit by back-to-back internal jolts, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is struggling to keep her Trinamool Congress (TMC) intact after the party legislators breaking rank — first with MLA Ritabrata Banerjee staking claim as the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly with the support of 58 lawmakers, and now a Member of Parliament, Kakoli Ghosh, showing signs of splitting away with several supporters.

TMC's Lok Sabha unit has come on the brink of a major turning point after at least 14 lawmakers met in Delhi and discussed breaking away in the presence of Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, the latest setback for the regional party after its crushing defeat in the recently concluded assembly elections last month.

Roughly three kilometres away from where party chief Mamata Banerjee was attending a meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Monday, the rebel TMC parliamentarians, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, met at the house of Union minister and BJP observer for Bengal polls Bhupender Yadav for two hours. In the evening, the group again met at the residence of four-time Birbhum MP Shatabdi Roy, HT reported earlier.

Adhikari was present at both meetings of rebel TMC MPs, the HT report quoted functionaries aware of developments as saying. “In the first meeting, the CM quipped that all of you are senior MPs but you have been badly treated by the TMC brass,” said one of the MPs.

The developments came hours after veteran TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray resigned from the Rajya Sabha, alleging “unbridled corruption” and “anarchical rule” of the party.

The rebels need at least 19 of the 28 Lok Sabha members — 2/3rd of the total party MPs — of the TMC to escape anti-defection proceedings.

“Nearly 20 TMC MPs, including me, have decided to support the NDA for Bengal’s development. We have decided to write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and formally support the NDA,” the earlier HT report quoted as saying the four-term MP.

“The letter has already reached the speaker. We have sought separate seating arrangements as a separate bloc,” she added later in the evening.

Giving details on the events that led to the rebellion, Kakoli Ghosh said things have been getting “from bad to worse” in the TMC and also dismissed the questions on her loyalty towards Mamata Banerjee.

“I have been with Mamata Banerjee for 40 years. She has been my guide, my mentor and my leader, and I have been with her even in the days when she was not in power. I have contested in five elections and lost before 2009. So it is useless to say that just because she is not in power in West Bengal, I have left. It is not that. I was with her when she was not in power.

But at that time, there was a policy which was a pro-people agenda for the poor people of the state of West Bengal... But in the last 3-4 years, the work has been suboptimal,” Kakoli Ghosh said, speaking to ANI news agency.In a message of resilience, Ghosh said she will not bow down, no matter what. "Mera sar katega lekin jhukega nahi... Maine bohot seh liya [My head may be severed, but it will not bow]... I did not come here after Mamata Banerjee became chief minister in 2011; I have been fighting here for 40 years. And as I said, the words of such people have absolutely no effect on me...," Ghosh said.

Ghosh described the work done in the last three-four years as suboptimal. "Different sectors like education, health, film industry have absolutely collapsed, law and order were not optimum, the pressure was too much on the government officers to work according to the whims and fancies of certain leadership, which is not a congenial working atmosphere for the development of a state. Now the people's verdict has proven what I am trying to tell you. So we want to work for the development of the state and for the national interest and the safety and security of the nation. That is why we want to work separately," Ghosh said.

She emphasised that her faction has 20 MPs, including her, who have requested the Speaker for separate seating. "We will be working in conjunction of the Central and state government for the development of West Bengal, and we are against the lawlessness, misgovernance and unemployment in the state of West Bengal over the past few years," she said.

The TMC delegation in the Bengal assembly has already suffered a split after 58 MLAs last week backed rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee, who staked claim to the Leader of the Opposition position in the state assembly.

Beyond all this, Mamata Banerjee is also facing fresh challenge in its urban political structure as uncertainty surrounds the future of senior leaders holding key mayoral positions. Last week, party's Frihad Hakim and Krishna Chakraborty resigned as the mayor of Kolkata and Bidhannagar municipal corporations, respectively.

The 58 legislators of the TMC defied the party line in the Bengal assembly on June 3 and supported expelled lawmaker Ritabrata Banerjee as the LoP. On Monday, former Kolkata mayor and prominent minority face Firhad Hakim appeared to join the rebel group.