The Trinamool Congress (TMC) outlined its plans for the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament during a meeting of the national working committee, the party's highest policy-making body, in Kolkata on Monday. The meeting, chaired by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence, was attended by several senior leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, Firhad Hakim, Subrata Bakshi, Anubrata Mondal and Chandrima Bhattacharya.
Trinamool MPs plan to address several issues in Parliament, including the Centre’s withholding of MGNREGA and PM Awas funds intended for West Bengal, as well as concerns over inflation, GST, and the situation in Manipur, informed Bhattacharya, West Bengal’s minister of state for finance, during a press interaction after the meeting.
Notably, the TMC did not send a representative to Monday’s INDIA bloc meeting, chaired by Congress president and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge. When questioned about the party’s position within the INDIA bloc, Bhattacharya declined to comment.
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She also did not specify whether the TMC would participate in the INDIA bloc MPs’ agitations in Parliament, which focus on allegations of corruption involving the Adani Group and their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the issue.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal’s ruling party added five more names to its national working committee to increase the number of members to 27. “They are Biman Banerjee, Manas Bhunia, Mala Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Javed Khan,” said Bhattacharya.
The Trinamool also reorganised its disciplinary committee into three separate panels, focusing on Parliament, the Assembly, and the party organisation. During the meeting, the roles and responsibilities of the party’s spokespersons were also outlined.
Among others, Derek O’Brien and Abhishek Banerjee will address national issues, while finance-related matters will be handled by Amit Mitra and Chandrima Bhattacharya.
The parliamentary disciplinary committee comprises Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Derek O’Brien, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Kalyan Banerjee, and Nadimul Haque. For the Assembly, the committee includes Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Nirmal Ghosh, Debashis Kumar, Firhad Hakim, and Chandrima Bhattacharya.
Similarly, the party’s internal disciplinary panel features Subrata Bakshi, Aroop Biswas, Firhad Hakim, Sujit Bose, and Chandrima Bhattacharya.