00:00and the symbol war where the two factions of the TMC is concerned.
00:04The two Trinamul Congress factions now have two new names
00:08as the Election Commission has frozen the symbol of the original unified TMC.
00:14The Election Commission has allotted Mamata Banerjee,
00:17All-India Trinamul Congress, the football player symbol.
00:21Now this, the football player symbol, goes to Mamata Banerjee.
00:24The envelope, the rebel faction, which is all claiming to be the real TMC right now,
00:29has been allotted, now the rebel faction called the Democratic Trinamul Congress,
00:34has been allotted the envelope symbol.
00:36After all of this, like we pointed out,
00:39the EC froze the original TMC name of the twin flower symbol
00:42for the upcoming Bipoles in West Bengal.
00:45Here's more.
00:48A party born from rebellion against the Congress.
00:52A symbol drawn by Mamata Banerjee herself.
00:55The twin flowers on grass.
00:57For nearly three decades, that name and symbol have meant Trinamul Congress.
01:03Now, both are frozen.
01:06And for the first time, since she founded the party in 1998,
01:11Mamata Banerjee's faction will head into an election under a different name
01:15and a different symbol.
01:17The election commission has temporarily barred both warding TMC factions
01:23from using the original TMC name and symbol ahead of the October 6 Bengal Bipoles.
01:29And now, two Trinamuls have two new identities.
01:34Mamata's camp becomes Mamata All India Trinamul Congress,
01:38with the football player symbol.
01:39The rebel camp gets Democratic Trinamul Congress with the envelope symbol.
01:46Both identities are temporary,
01:48pending the ECI's final decision on who gets the original TMC name and symbol.
01:54Rebel TMC MLA Ritabrota Banerjee accused Mamata All's party
01:58of being centred around an individual.
02:14The charge from the Didi camp is blunt.
02:40She has also extended support to the Congress candidate in the Nandikram Bipole
02:45after her candidate Sanchita Pradhandi withdrew from the race
02:49minutes after meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
02:53But this is now bigger than a symbol war.
02:56For Mamata, the challenge is taking a decades-old political brand to voters
03:01under a new name and symbol.
03:04For the rebels, it is a chance to test their claim on the ground.
03:08And the numbers show how deep the split is.
03:12Of the 80 MLAs, the rebel faction has claimed the support of 64 MLAs,
03:17while the Mamata camp is estimated to have around 16.
03:22The freezing of party name and symbol has also triggered a political storm.
03:27Mamata allies Rahul Gandhi, the Jasvi Yadav and Akilesh Yadav
03:32have attacked the BJP and Election Commission over the decision,
03:36alleging democratic institutions are being undermined.
03:40The BJP rejects the charge, and West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari
03:45has gone a step further, calling it the curse of Lord Ram.
04:14So from twin flowers to football player, from Trinamul Congress,
04:18this is to Mamata, All India, Trinamul Congress.
04:22This is perhaps the biggest organisational setback Mamata Banerji has faced
04:27since creating the TMC in 1998.
04:30And the Trinamul now joins a growing list of parties
04:33that have fought bitter battles over who owns the name,
04:37the organisation and the election symbol.
04:41With Aishwarya Paliwal and Indrajit Kundu, Bureau Report, India Today.
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