TMC Implodes: 58 MLAs Revolt, Isolate Abhishek Banerjee After Poll Loss

Following a crushing poll defeat, the TMC implodes as 58 MLAs revolt to form a breakaway faction, naming Ritabrata Banerjee as LoP. The move isolates Abhishek Banerjee, while rebels claim loyalty to Mamata Banerjee in a ceremonial role.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has imploded into absolute structural chaos. Just days after a crushing defeat in the April 2026 assembly elections that ended its 15-year rule, a spectacular internal mutiny has fractured the legislature party, completely isolating Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee and stripping the high command of its legislative authority.

58 MLAs Stage Legislative Coup

In a high-voltage afternoon development, 58 out of the TMC's 80 newly elected MLAs marched to the chamber of Assembly Speaker Rathindranath Bose to formally stake claim over the TMC Legislature Party. Led by recently expelled MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, the breakaway faction claimed to have crossed the critical two-thirds threshold required to bypass anti-defection proceedings, successfully naming Ritabrata Banerjee as the official Leader of the Opposition (LoP).

High Command Dissolves All Party Committees

As the coup unfolded, a panicked TMC High Command retaliated with a scorched-earth administrative order on social media platform X, dissolving every single party committee and frontal organisation across West Bengal with immediate effect under the guise of an "introspection and performance review."

Rebel Strategy: Isolate Abhishek, Revere Mamata

The mutiny has triggered a furious war of words regarding legal validity, with the traditional party core claiming that several signatures were actively forged. The architects of the rebellion have executed a highly strategic manoeuvre: they are viciously amputating Abhishek Banerjee from the party structure while maintaining a public posture of absolute loyalty to party matriarch Mamata Banerjee.

Speaking to reporters, Ritabrata Banerjee launched a direct assault on the party's national general secretary. "Abhishek Banerjee will have absolutely no role in it. Neither our legislative party nor the party organisation has any connection whatsoever with him. The people of Bengal have absolutely no connection with him."

'We Want Mamata Banerjee as Our Chief Advisor'

Despite hijacking her legislature party, rebels insist Mamata remains their leader. The 58-member group formally requested her to step into a ceremonial role. "We want Mamata Banerjee to be our chief advisor, to give us advice that will help us in strengthening our position as the opposition," Ritabrata added.

Rebel MLAs Reyat Hossain Sarkar and Gulam Rabbani carefully backed this narrative to avoid public backlash, asserting they won using "Didi's photo" and still consider her their ultimate leader, but concurred that Ritabrata was the democratic choice to lead them on the assembly floor.

Loyalists Challenge Move, Claim Forgery

The loyalist rump, left with just over 20 undisputed MLAs, fielded senior leader Kunal Ghosh to mount a fierce defence of the party's traditional command structure.

Ghosh labelled the breakaway faction's legal manoeuvres "impossible." "Mamata Banerjee represents the real Trinamool, the very woman who gave birth to the Trinamool Congress," Ghosh stated emphatically. "The mother of the Trinamool Congress is, by definition, the true Trinamool Congress. The individuals engaging in this dissent were not independent candidates; they were Mamata Banerjee's candidates."

Ghosh further revealed that the high command has filed a counter-objection with the Speaker, claiming a massive cross-contamination of data: "There are numerous MLAs whose signatures appear on both our letter and theirs. Effectively, two competing letters have been submitted. The parliamentary legalities will have to be examined."

The letter submitted to Speaker Rathindranath Bose formally requests a complete overhaul of the opposition benches, entirely replacing loyalist leadership.

BJP Frames Collapse as End of 'Dynastic Politics'

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which recently formed its maiden government in the state under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, watched the public unravelling of its rival with open delight, framing it as the natural death of dynastic entitlement. "I said earlier also that if the party loses the election, it will break apart. The main issue is that it was a family party, and people wanted to leave but were afraid. As the Prime Minister said, dynastic politics must end. In the end, only Mamata and her nephew will remain; everyone else will leave," said Minister Dilip Ghosh on the collapse.

"When TMC was in power, they stole jobs from the youth, rations from the poor... now people have removed the thieves. Abhishek Banerjee even forged his MLAs' signatures to keep control. TMC has no policy, only scams and corruption. Their own MLAs are now terrified of them," said BJP MLA Indranil Khan on the forgery scam. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)