The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) camp on Tuesday hit back at the party’s rebel Lok Sabha MPs, alleging that they lack “political morality and ethics” and termed them opportunists for trying to engineer a split.TMC’s Mamata faction accuses rebel MPs of trying to engineer splitMeanwhile, suspense continued over the rebels’ strength as there is no clarity on which TMC MPs have joined the other group and officials in Lok Sabha are unsure what is the status of the letter that the rebels have claimed to have submitted.On Monday, TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar announced that they had given a letter from 20 MPs to Speaker Om Birla for a separate sitting arrangement in the House.In a press conference, TMC MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Kirti Azad even challenged the rebel MPs to make public the so-called letter of support.“They lack political morality. If they are so upset, they should have resigned and fought fresh election. Why is it that they never raised these issues in the last 15 years but now, when the party has lost, they decided to form a bloc,” said Kalyan Banerjee. Banerjee also argued that the law only permits merger with other parties but the rebel MPs can’t form a ginger group.Ghosh Dastidar, the face of the rebels, rejected the charges of opportunism and said, “I was with Mamata since 1984. I lost many elections but I never left the party when TMC was not in power,” she told media.Banerjee also said that the BJP will not take any rebel MPs.Questioning the authenticity of the letter, Banerjee said such an important document has not been placed in the public domain.“If you are so honest, why don’t you make it public? Why don’t you have the courage to give the letter to the press?” he asked, alleging that the entire exercise lacked transparency.Banerjee also accused the rebel leaders of effectively aligning themselves with the BJP.The two leaders noted that rebel MPs had met Union minister Bhupender Yadav in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, proving they are with the BJP. Banerjee also challenged the two Muslim MPs who have switched sides, to openly declare that PM Narendra Modi is their leader.“I will invite every MP to go to the constituency, sit with TMC workers, face them,” he said.Alleging large-scale political repression in West Bengal, Banerjee claimed opposition workers and leaders were facing harassment by the administration.