Full Breakdown
AITC Challenges Chairmanship Appointment Amid Party-Affiliation Dispute
By Drooid · · How we work
AITC Challenges Committee Chairmanship Appointment
On October 3, 2026, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) faction supporting former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan to protest the appointment of MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar as Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers. The party argues that the member’s affiliation with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) is contested in pending disqualification proceedings, rendering the chairmanship improper for AITC.
Background of Committee Leadership and Disqualification Petitions
AITC previously chaired the Standing Committees on Commerce and on Chemicals and Fertilizers, and held chairmanships in both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 sessions. The party notes that the Digital Sansad website still lists 28 Lok Sabha members as belonging to AITC, despite a group of twenty MPs having quit after the West Bengal Assembly defeat and allegedly merging with NCPI. Disqualification petitions under the anti-defection law remain pending for those MPs, and the matter has reached the Supreme Court.
Official Statements & Responses
Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee, AITC’s parliamentary party leader, reiterated in a letter dated September 23, 2026, that members with pending disqualification petitions should be excluded from committee appointments until the Speaker decides the cases. He also requested that AITC retain at least one standing-committee chairmanship and that the nominated incumbent continue in that role. Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien highlighted that AITC was denied a chairmanship in 2019 despite being the third-largest party, a situation he says has now recurred.
Verbatim Quotes
- “The member appointed, however, claims affiliation with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) through a purported merger disputed in the pending disqualification proceedings,” — Mr. Banerjee, west bengal chief
- “Under which party affiliation has this chairmanship been allotted? If it has been allotted to AITC, on what basis has the party's nominee been replaced against its express wishes? If it has been allotted to NCPI, under what order has that affiliation been recognised, and on what basis has NCPI been given the chairmanship?” — Mamata Banerjee, west bengal chief
- “Appointing a Member to a chairmanship while leaving the Member's disputed affiliation undecided is, in our submission, contrary to parliamentary propriety. This appointment cannot be treated as a chairmanship allotted to AITC,” — Mamata Banerjee, west bengal chief
These objections underscore AITC’s claim that appointing a member whose party status is unresolved violates parliamentary propriety and undermines the party’s right to chair a standing committee.