Kolkata, Aug 24 — A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday approved pleas from both factions of the Trinamool Congress to celebrate the foundation day of the party’s students wing, Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), at the same venue in central Kolkata on August 28.
Both factions are seeking to organise an event on that occasion at Mayo Road in central Kolkata, where the event was organised when the previous ruling party in West Bengal was not divided into two factions.
Now, both the factions have approached the Calcutta High Court seeking permission on this count. The single-judge bench of Justice Sougata Bhattacharya approved the pleas from both factions and the matter will come up for hearing on Tuesday.
While the original but minority faction is led by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, the rebel but majority faction is led by the expelled party legislator, Ritabrata Banerjee, the current Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
TMCP had always been organising its foundation day celebration programme at Mayo Road. There was no problem with it when Mamata Banerjee was the Chief Minister. But this time the situation is different.
While the Trinamool Congress was ousted from power in the 2026 Assembly elections, the party founded by her has split into two factions. Now it is to be seen which of the two factions gets the court’s permission to organise the event at Mayo Road.
Earlier, complexities arose over the venue for two parallel programmes by two factions on the occasion of Martyrs’ Day on July 21. This time, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction was not permitted to organise that programme on July 21 at the traditional venue in front of CESC House near Esplanade in central Kolkata. Following the court’s permission, the former Chief Minister-led faction had to organise the rally in front of Birla Planetarium also in central Kolkata and that too with a limited number of participants.