20 MPs Gone And Rebels Rising: Is Mamata Losing Control Of The TMC?

Three months after the Trinamool Congress was pushed into opposition following 15 years in power, Mamata Banerjee is fighting a battle that goes beyond recovering from an electoral defeat. Her immediate challenge is to prevent the party she built from fracturing permanently.

The crisis has three fronts: the Mamata faction, a rebel bloc in the West Bengal Assembly led by Ritabrata Banerjee, and 20 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs who have moved to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and extended support to the NDA.

The parliamentary split has triggered a potential anti-defection battle. The TMC has sought disqualification of the 20 MPs, while the rebels argue that their two-thirds strength protects them under the merger provisions of the Tenth Schedule. The dispute could eventually reach the Supreme Court.

In the Assembly, Ritabrata has claimed the backing of 64 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs, though this remains a factional claim rather than an independently verified final tally. The Calcutta High Court has meanwhile allowed Ritabrata to continue provisionally as Leader of the Opposition for two months while his appointment is challenged.

The rebellion has also hit the party’s younger leadership. Saayoni Ghosh, a prominent youth leader associated with the rebel camp, was removed as TMC youth-wing president and replaced by Arnab Banerjee.

The rebels accuse the old leadership of abandoning the party’s original political character and object to the growing influence of Abhishek Banerjee. Mamata’s camp rejects the rival leadership structure and insists the TMC remains under her control.

However, the breakaway camp is not entirely united. Three NCPI MPs, Khalilur Rahaman, Abu Taher Khan and Yusuf Pathan, have stayed away from NDA meetings, indicating that loyalties within the new formation may also be fluid.

That gives Mamata an opening.

She must now rebuild trust, empower younger leaders, bring back wavering legislators and revive the grassroots organisation that once operated with the advantages of government.

For the BJP, a permanently fragmented TMC would create a major opportunity. For Mamata, the choice is stark: preserve the old TMC or reinvent it before the split becomes permanent.