A letter purportedly signed by rebel All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) MPs and sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was made public on Friday. The letter, dated May 18, reportedly bears the signatures of 19 of the party’s 20 Lok Sabha MPs, including Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Satabdi Roy, Yusuf Pathan and Saayoni Ghosh.One of the dissident MPs Jagadish Barma Basunia asserted that the letter was authentic. He added that the group would meet the Lok Sabha Speaker on Monday to seek recognition as the “real” TMC faction.According to the letter, Kakoli Ghosh is described as “chief whip”. It may be recalled that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had replaced her with Kalyan Banerjee as the party’s Lok Sabha chief whip. Mamata had also written to the Speaker on May 20 informing him of the decision.The other rebel MPs who have reportedly signed the letter are Bapi Haldar, Sharmila Sarkar, Prasun Bandyopadhyay, Jagadish Barma Basunia, Asit Kumar Mal, Arup Chakraborty, Rachna Banerjee, Khalilur Rahaman, Abu Taher Khan, Mitali Bag, Mala Roy, Kalipada Soren, Deepak Adhikari, June Malia and Partha Bhowmick.Meanwhile, sources in Mamata Banerjee’s office dismissed the letter as “fake” and blamed the BJP for the development. They alleged that the BJP could “go to any extent” to weaken the party.Speaking to the media, Jagadish Barma Basunia said 19 MPs had already signed the letter and that the number could rise as more members were expected to join. He also held party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee responsible for the situation.He dismissed allegations levelled by TMC MP Kirti Azad that pressure had been exerted on MPs, saying the decision was deliberate. He added that people had elected them to work for development and, if they were unable to do so, there was no point in remaining MPs.Meanwhile, Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra termed the rebel members “traitors” and said they “don’t know the law”.Stating that they lacked a proper understanding of constitutional provisions relating to splits and separate blocs, Moitra said: “Traitor TMC lawmakers don’t know law. The Constitution (91st Amendment) Act, 2003, removed the provision for a split or separate bloc. The number of MPs is irrelevant — two-thirds of the original political party has to merge with another party. All 19 traitors need to resign and contest on a BJP ticket.”So far, three Rajya Sabha members — Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prashant Chik Baraik — have already stepped down from the Upper House.In a fresh setback for the TMC, Mamata loyalist Kalyan Banerjee has reportedly asked the former West Bengal Chief Minister to “choose between him and Abhishek Banerjee”, alleging that her nephew was responsible for the party’s decline.Following its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections, the TMC is facing an existential crisis, with the party witnessing divisions both in the Legislative Assembly and in Parliament.