As Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee hit the streets of Kolkata on Tuesday for the first time since being voted out last month, the buzz of an impending split in her party has gained ground, with the phrase “Maharashtra model” being used by leaders close to the former Chief Minister.This came a day after the former ruling party in the state expelled MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha for alleging that their signatures had been forged on a letter endorsing the TMC’s legislature party leadership. The party has appointed Sobhabdeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and Nayana Bandyopadhyay and Ashima Patra as Deputy LoPs, and Firhad Hakim as Chief Whip. Though the party submitted a fresh letter to the Speaker’s office on Tuesday, with a police probe going on, it has not yet been accepted.AdvertisementThere was a buzz in the city’s political circles about meetings between Ritabrata Banerjee and several TMC MLAs on Thursday, hours after he was expelled. MLAs and Mamata loyalists Kunal Ghosh and Madan Mitra also alleged that there had been a secret meeting.Read | Mamata vows to defeat BJP: Jiyeenge toh BJP ko hataake jayenge“We have heard they had a meeting at the MLAs’ hostel and in a private hotel as well. They are trying to follow the Maharashtra model,” said Ghosh, the Beleghata MLA.Mitra, the Kamarhati legislator, said, “I have heard a meeting was organised in a private hotel by some rebel MLAs, but I don’t have more details.”AdvertisementRead | As TMC shrinks in Bengal, can a united Congress, Left rise to fill Oppn vacuum?Ritabrata denied any secret meetings and said he had met only fellow legislators Rathin Ghosh and Shiuli Saha. “I am not that big a leader who enjoys the support of more than 50 MLAs. I never believed in tomorrow; I have always believed in the present. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” he told reporters.Read | Nearly 60 out of 80 TMC MLAs skip Mamata meeting, party blames attack on its MPsMamata, meanwhile, alleged a conspiracy orchestrated from Delhi — referring to the central BJP leadership — to dismantle her party.“Our MLAs are not being allowed to leave their houses and the police are asking them to quit TMC and form a ‘new TMC’ … Who will build this new TMC? Those who have been with the party since the beginning, or those who won on the party symbol?” she said, adding attempts to intimidate her party would be “foiled”.The speculation about a rift in the party comes at a time when MLAs have been conspicuous by their absence in meetings held in the TMC chief’s home in Kolkata’s Kalighat area.“Some of the MLAs are trying to follow the ‘Maharashtra model’ in which Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party broke away from their parties, got the rights to use the name and symbol. These MLAs are trying to carry out a similar coup,” said a senior TMC leader. These splits in the regional parties in Maharashtra were engineered by the BJP. To avoid attracting the anti-defection law, any breakaway group of legislators will need to have two-thirds of 80 MLAs or 53.Read | Minutes after CM Suvendu’s claim on ‘forged’ signatures, TMC expels MLAs Ritabrata Bandyopadhyay, Sandipan SahaWhile TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the Diamond Harbour MP, sent a fresh letter to the Speaker’s office on Tuesday endorsing Chattopadhyay as LoP, Kunal Ghosh alleged that the letter had not been accepted. Ghosh claimed that he and Patra had gone to the Speaker’s office to submit the letter, but were informed that no communication from them would be received. “Do they want to conceal objections to be recorded for some misdeed?” he asked.Since the TMC lost power, the number of MLAs who have attended meetings convened by the leadership has steadily dwindled. On May 6, two days after the results were announced, 71 MLAs were present. Almost two weeks later, on May 19, 65 MLAs were at a meeting chaired by Mamata Banerjee. On May 31, only 20 MLAs turned up at a meeting at Mamata Banerjee’s residence.you may likeThe following day, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari claimed Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha had complained to the Assembly that their signatures on the TMC leader had been forged. He also claimed that MLAs Arup Roy and Baharul Islam had admitted to the CID, which is investigating the matter, that they had not signed the letter.Following his expulsion, Saha said, “The party supports those who do unethical things. And it expels those who do ethical things. We did not even know that a signature in an attendance register would be passed off as a signature on a proposal.”Ritabrata, who was a CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP before joining the TMC in 2017, has criticised the party leadership for not being ready to accept defeat. “When we went to the meeting (on May 6), it was said we have to give a standing ovation to Abhishek Banerjee for the result,” he said.