‘Just a matter of time…20 rebel TMC MPs will be disqualified’: Mamata Banerjee at Kolkata rally

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned that the 20 rebels who left her Trinamool Congress party for the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) will likely be disqualified. This warning followed notices from the Lok Sabha Secretariat seeking their response on petitions to disqualify them. At a Kolkata rally to commemorate the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad's foundation day, Banerjee stated that facing disqualification was "just a matter of time."

She assured her supporters that the party would soon regain power in West Bengal, asserting that the BJP had only "captured Bengal by theft." Banerjee also expressed her intention to challenge the BJP's oppressive actions, including filing a case against the police if they continue their actions. She criticized the police for arresting young men attending a mosque near a gurdwara near the rally venue and accused the Election Commission of manipulating elections by "looting votes in the name of Special Intensive Revision (SIR)."

Banerjee invited 10 hawker representatives who had been affected by recent eviction drives to the stage, and TMCP members tied rakhis to their wrists in support. Former Opposition Leader Ritabrata Banerjee criticized Mamata's leadership, accusing her of colluding with the BJP and pointing out that the party had not taken action on student union elections while placing their leaders in college and university management committees.