TMC's 'dissident' MPs Dev, Maliah attend Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari's administrative meeting (original) (raw)

Kolaghat (WB), Amid a split in TMC's parliamentary unit, "dissident" party MPs June Maliah and Deepak Adhikari (Dev) on Tuesday attended West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's administrative meeting in Purba Medinipur district.

The development comes a day after the TMC imploded as a rebellion that had ruptured its West Bengal assembly ranks reached Parliament, where 20 Lok Sabha MPs led by senior leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claimed to have written to Speaker Om Birla backing the BJP-led NDA as a "separate bloc".

Maliah, the Medinipur MP, and Ghatal MP Dev, both of whom are claimed to have switched to the rebel TMC camp in the Lok Sabha, and Keshpur MLA Siuli Saha attended the meeting at Kolaghat.

Saha, who is among 58 dissident MLAs backed by legislator Ritabrata Banerjee and has been chosen as the deputy leader of the legislature party, said that the duty of elected representatives is to work for the welfare of the people.

"That is why I have come to attend the CM's meeting," she told reporters while entering the venue.

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BJP MLA Ashok Dinda from Purba Medinipur's Moyna constituency stated that the attendance of opposition representatives in such meetings is a sign of "real change".

"Earlier, the TMC government had never invited opposition MPs and MLAs to administrative meetings, but our government has requested all concerned, irrespective of their political affiliation, to attend such meetings," he said.

During the administrative meeting, the state government is likely to focus on plans to deal with floods in the monsoon season, which cause devastation in Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and Howrah districts, officials said.