Kolkata: The battle for control of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) escalated on Monday after the rebel faction led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee
appointed senior MLA Arup Roy as chairperson of what it called the “real” Trinamool Congress and announced the suspension of national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
The move marks the most serious organisational challenge yet to former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s leadership as the party grapples with defections and internal unrest following its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of rebel MLAs, councillors and party leaders held at a hotel in New Town. Senior leaders including Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha, Asim Bose, Jui Biswas and Tarak Singh attended the gathering along with representatives from several districts.
Parallel leadership structure announced
Addressing the meeting, Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that the party’s national working committee, constituted in February 2022, had completed its three-year term and was not reconstituted in accordance with the party constitution.
“The organisational structure was not reconstituted after the expiry of its tenure. Therefore, it became necessary to initiate the process of rebuilding the party’s national leadership in accordance with the constitution,” a leader present at the meeting quoted Banerjee as saying.
The gathering then approved the formation of a new national working committee. Initially comprising 10 members, the committee was later expanded to 30 members.
Arup Roy, the MLA from Howrah Central, was elected chairperson through a voice vote.
Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Rathin Ghosh and Sabina Yasmin were appointed vice-chairpersons. Ritabrata Banerjee, Javed Khan and Sandipan Saha were named general secretaries, while Akhruzzaman Ansari was appointed treasurer.
The newly formed committee also decided to appoint an independent auditor to examine the party’s financial records.
Rebels claim majority support
Leaders of the rebel faction maintained that the newly constituted committee represented the legitimate continuation of the Trinamool Congress.
Sources in the camp claimed that around 60 MLAs and a large number of councillors, including several members of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, either attended the meeting or supported the resolutions adopted there.
The faction further claimed that its support base in the Assembly had risen to around 65 legislators.
Official TMC dismisses move
Leaders loyal to Mamata Banerjee rejected the developments and described the rebel exercise as politically irrelevant.
Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh dismissed the parallel structure as a “comical show”.
“It is a comedy show. A man who has been expelled from the TMC is holding a special session. The matter is in the court and we believe justice will be done. We do not give any importance to such comical behaviour. TMC = Mamata Banerjee. All else is a circus,” he wrote on X.
Crisis spreads beyond Assembly
The internal turmoil has expanded beyond the state legislature and into Parliament.
Earlier, a majority of TMC MLAs backed Ritabrata Banerjee’s claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition, rejecting the nominee supported by the Mamata Banerjee-led leadership.
The party also suffered a setback in Parliament after at least 20 of its 28 Lok Sabha MPs broke away from the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party and merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), while extending support to the BJP-led NDA.
The latest developments indicate that the struggle for control of the Trinamool Congress is far from over, with both camps now claiming legitimacy and support within the party.
