00:05You are leading the rebel camp. Interestingly, you have also been expelled by the Thronomul
00:12Congress. But the speaker has chosen you as the leader of the opposition in West Bengal
00:17Assembly. My question firstly is, how many, what is the status, how many MLAs are with
00:23you right now? Because the last that we heard from you, you said there were 58 MLAs in your
00:32camp.
00:33See, first of all, I want to clear one thing that in my vocabulary, there is nothing called
00:41I. The entire fight that we are fighting is for we. It's a fight against individualism
00:49by the collective, for the collective. So the collective, so that first of all, whatever
00:56I will speak, I will be speaking on the behalf of the collective. So practically speaking,
01:02we now, the collective now has 61. The numbers are going on increasing. A few MLAs are there
01:09whom we don't want to take. Even if they want to come, we are not in a mood and the
01:15decision
01:15is we will not take. There are a set of names which will not touch. Because there are reasons
01:23for that. I will later come into that. But as far as the numbers are concerned, the number
01:27stands at 61 at this current moment.
01:30So quickly, you know, let me reveal one of the names. One of the names I hear is Kunal Ghosh.
01:35And he is with Mamta Banerjee's camp. But I believe you have some reservations regarding
01:39him. Has he been in touch with you? I don't want to speak on because we have given a letter
01:48to the honourable speaker. And the MLAs were not on, MLAs just did not sign only. They were
01:55physically present also. 99% of the MLAs were physically present. But that is where I want
02:07to catch you. You initially that day during the press conference, you said around 25 odd
02:12MLAs were present there. But you are saying 58 had signed. So did everybody, were they present
02:18actually? Or you have the signatures on the letter? See, pardon, once more, I missed. What
02:28do you? Initially that day when you submitted the letter before the speaker, I believe if
02:34I remember correctly, you said that there were 24 to 25 odd MLAs who were physically present.
02:39But you had the signature of 58 of them. No, no, no, no. You are completely mistaken.
02:44Completely, completely, completely mistaken. 99% of the MLAs were physically present. They
02:53have entered the assembly.
02:54Right. They were in the assembly. They met the speaker. I never said that 24 to 25 were present. I
03:03know
03:03the media is trying hard. But problem is, as I am talking with you, already two MLAs have contacted me.
03:12I said, I cannot alone take a decision. We have to talk with the collective. Calls are coming. And last
03:17day in Kaligat, eight MLAs were present.
03:19That's right. That's right. Today there was a meeting at Srinamul Bhavan. In Srinamul Bhavan, councillors of Kolkata Corporation were
03:27called. The situation was such that maximum 10 people would have joined. So the meeting has been conveniently cancelled. So
03:36we did not only submit a letter. 99% of the people were physically present.
03:41And what about those MLAs just a few days back who were present at Mohamata Banerjee's residence? I can name
03:52them, Naina Bandhapadha and others. Have they also contacted you in the last 24 hours?
03:58Naina Bandhapadha was not there. Naina Bandhapadha was there at the meeting with the chief minister, I am saying. There
04:09was Kunal Ghosh who was present at the chief minister's meeting. There was Firhad Hakeem.
04:12Last day. Have they contacted you? No, last day Naina Bandhapadha was not there. See, media tried so many times
04:28to. This is a basic thing that I. Why will I name them? I can. And I have categorically said.
04:35Let there be a float test in the assembly.
04:39Because you are also the media section of the media. And I cannot forget. And I will congratulate them also.
04:46Their allegiance to Mamata Banerjee seems very strong. Let it be strong. No problem.
04:51But I will request to the media that let's be neutral. Don't make stories. Let's be neutral. We are openly
04:59challenging that let's there be a float test. Dood ka dood paani ka paani assembly session.
05:04While you are challenging the leadership of Abhijek Banerjee in the assembly and a lot many have already spoken about
05:11it. There are MPs who are also said to be in touch with your camp. What can you say about
05:18that? How many MPs are in touch? And what can we expect in the days to come? Especially tomorrow, Monday.
05:27See, you have to look at the chronology. Anything doesn't happen on a single day. On 4th of May, the
05:35results of the elections were announced. On 6th of May, Trinomul Congress legislators are called to Kalighat.
05:41There was no resolution regarding the legislative party. There was only a single resolution. Everybody should stand up, give a
05:52standing ovation to Abhishek Banerjee because he has spirited the election in a marvelous manner.
06:00The amount of effort he has put and then the party says the party has not lost the election. We
06:07won 80 seats. BJP at that time had won 207 seats.
06:12But a denial in continuing in a denial mode, the party said that we have not lost the elections. Actually,
06:18we have 180 seats. 100 seats are being snatched away from us.
06:22So, the only resolution on 6th of May was to give a standing ovation to Abhishek Banerjee. But interestingly enough,
06:31when it was said that everybody stand up, give an ovation, people were hesitant.
06:36Even I was hesitant. But I did not have the courage not to stand up. So, it was a half
06:40stand up, you can say. I did not got fully on my toes from the chair.
06:46So, you weren't fully convinced. You weren't convinced there. But there was a MLA. There was a M. Everybody knows
06:55who is the greatest liability of Trinomul Congress.
07:00We have said many people. I have got calls from the, after this incident in the assembly happened, I got
07:06calls from the members of the Banerjee family.
07:09They are known to them for very long. Many of them I know since 1998-99 during my college days.
07:16I have got calls from them. I will not obviously name them. But that were, those were congratulatory calls against
07:22a despotic mindset, against a mindset that does not treat human beings as human beings, against a mindset that looks
07:29upon human beings as animals.
07:30From Mamta Banerjee's family.
07:32What I want to say.
07:33Members of Mamta Banerjee's family, if I can underline that.
07:36Mamta Banerjee, there has been calls to me by Mamta Banerjee's family members.
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