Trinamool faction protests loss of Rajya Sabha committee chair

The Mamata Banerjee-backed faction of the All India Trinamool Congress has protested its exclusion from the chairpersonship of any of the Rajya Sabha’s eight department-related standing committees. Party Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien wrote to Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan on October 3, referring to the parliamentary bulletin announcing the committees’ reconstitution for 2026-27.

He said the Trinamool Congress remained the third-largest party in the Upper House. O’Brien said the party had chaired a committee in both 2024-25 and 2025-26 but had now been denied any chairpersonship. He said a similar situation occurred in 2019, when the Trinamool Congress was also the third-largest party, and argued that the issue had later been corrected.

In his letter, O’Brien linked the dispute to wider concerns about the functioning of Parliament. He said six in every 10 Bills were referred to committees between 2004 and 2009, compared with two in every 10 between 2019 and 2024. He also cited the increasing share of Bills originating as Ordinances and fewer sitting days in the 17th Lok Sabha.

O’Brien further pointed to the vacant Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker’s post, which he said had remained unfilled since 2019. He described Parliament as becoming less open and concluded by asking the chairman to consider the party’s position. The faction has maintained that the Trinamool Congress continues to function as a single parliamentary party despite the Election Commission allotting separate names and symbols to rival groups after the party split.

The issue remains linked to a petition before Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla challenging recognition of the rival faction.