Trinamool split, Opposition faultlines on full display as Lok Sabha meets

As Parliament witnessed the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s protests outside its gates and the Opposition’s sloganeering inside on Monday, the first day of the Monsoon Session, the clearest sign of the shifting political landscape came from those who chose not to protest. Soon after the Lok Sabha assembled in the morning, the Opposition members streamed into the Well, raising slogans against the government over the NEET paper leak and the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. But a group of 26 MPs remained rooted to their seats – the 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs, who have “merged” with a little-known outfit Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), and the six Shiv Sena (UBT) members who now sit with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's MPs after joining its fold. The contrast was especially striking in the TMC's case. Barely three months ago, the party had stood shoulder to shoulder with the Congress in opposing the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill – brought by the Narendra Modi government to expedite the roll-out of the women quota law along with the Delimitation Bill – and helping the Opposition INDIA bloc to defeat the legislation in the Lok Sabha. On Monday, however, while Mahua Moitra and a handful of other TMC MPs loyal to party founder Mamata Banerjee joined the Congress members in the Well, holding placards saying "Paper Leak, Stop NEET", veteran TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, now leader of the party's breakaway group, sat quietly through the proceedings with other rebels. The changed political scenario was reflected by the House's seating plan. Over the weekend, Speaker Om Birla had rejigged the Lok Sabha seating plan after acceding to the demand of rebel TMC MPs for a separate seating away from their parent party's members. The new seating chart was a visual reminder of the split that has reshaped the TMC's parliamentary ranks. Bandyopadhyay now occupied the front-row seat in the third Opposition block, which had earlier been allotted to TMC floor leader Abhishek Banerjee. He sat alongside Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad. Other rebel TMC MPs were accommodated in the adjoining block, with Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who led the rebellion, seated in the second row. The rest were dispersed behind her, interspersed with the MPs of the NDA allies such as the JD(U) and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas). Veteran TMC MP Sougata Roy also found himself in the same block, separated from the party rebels by only a few seats. Yet, despite repeated adjournments through the day, there was no interaction between the two factions. Roy was seen during one such break in conversation with Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, at whose residence the rebel TMC MPs had gathered last month before announcing their split from the Mamata-led party. The new seating arrangement also produced one of the day's quieter ironies. Mahua had left her protest placards on the very bench occupied by Dastidar. Every time the House reconvened, she would return to the seat, pick up the placards and march into the Well to join the protesting members, with Dastidar remaining seated just a few feet away. Bandyopadhyay, meanwhile, was seen interacting with several BJP leaders during the adjournments, underlining the altered political equations that the TMC has alleged were engineered by the ruling party. If the TMC split was the day's most visible political faultline on display in the Lower House, the Opposition's floor coordination also revealed subtle differences. While the Congress and the DMK were among the first parties to enter the Well, they protested on different issues. The Congress MPs sought to corner the government over the NEET leak and the Ram Temple donation “theft”. The DMK MPs, wearing blue scarves, raised slogans against the Congress-led Karnataka government's decision to proceed with a dam on the Cauvery river. This divergence came amid strained ties between the Congress and the DMK after the former joined hands with Vijay to help him form a government in Tamil Nadu after his TVK clinched the Assembly elections in May. Yet, old political equations appeared not to have entirely frayed, with DMK leader Kanimozhi and Congress deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi engaged in animated conversations during the adjournments. The SP MPs raised issues like the NEET leak and the temple donation row, but did not join the Congress members in the Well. NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, who has said that her party would consider supporting the Delimitation Bill if the government ensures a 50% increase in the Lok Sabha seats in all states, spent much of the day walking through the House, meeting the MPs across party lines while showing them something on a notepad. Outside Parliament, the developments briefly heightened the sense of unease inside it. As news spread that CJP protesters had “gheraoed” Parliament, security personnel temporarily shut all gates to the complex. The MPs attempting to leave were asked to remain inside until the protesters were dispersed. At the centre of the Opposition's attacks was Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan whose resignation over the NEET leak has been a central demand of the CJP. Pradhan entered the House shortly before noon and was immediately greeted with cries of "Istifa do". After another adjournment, Pradhan walked to Home Minister Amit Shah's office in Parliament, leaving from there only at the end of the day. By the time the House adjourned for the day, the sharpest image of the session's first day was not of MPs in the Well. It was of erstwhile TMC colleagues sitting only a few seats apart, barely acknowledging each other, and no longer standing together as part of the Opposition's protest.