TMC rebel faction on Monday "replaced" Mamata Banerjee as the chairperson and elected senior MLA Arup Roy to the post.
The control of Trinamool Congress (TMC) seems to be slipping away from its founder Mamata Banerjee with a rebel faction in the party on Monday "replacing" her as the chairperson and electing senior MLA Arup Roy to the post — the latest big blow in the ongoing internal turmoil that has been rocking the outfit since losing the recently concluded West Bengal assembly elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Team Mamata Banerjee has reportedly countered the emergence of a parallel leadership structure by sending a fresh list of its office bearers and national working committee members to the Election Commission (EC), asserting that Mamata Banerjee continues to head the party.
Sources in the rebel camp claimed around 60 of the TMC's 80 MLAs attended or endorsed the special session in which Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee constituted a new national leadership hierarchy, according to a PTI news agency report. They also said nearly 70 former councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and representatives from several districts participated.
Held at a hotel in Kolkata, the 31-minute special session brought together rebel MLAs, former councillors and party functionaries from across the state.
Meanwhile, TMC disciplinary committee later issued show-cause notices to several senior leaders, including Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Arup Roy, Javed Khan, Rathin Ghosh, Biplab Mitra, Snehasis Chakraborty and Sabina Yasmin, alleging that they deliberately indulged in anti-party activities, news agency ANI reported.
The deepening TMC crisis
The struggle to keep the party intact and herself as the commander-in-chief began for Mamata Banerjee in the beginning of this month with assembly speaker, Rathindra Nath Bose, on June 3 recognising as many as 58 rebel TMC legislators as the principal opposition party in the House. Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, whom the Mamata-led TMC expelled on June 1, became the leader and deputy leader of the opposition, respectively. The development took place 29 days after the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested 207 seats against the TMC’s 80.
Days later, another rebel faction — of 20 MPs — emerged out of the TMC, adding to the woes of Mamata Banerjee, who by this time was abandoned by most of the elected party leaders and was left with only a few lawmakers by her side, including Mahua Moitra, Kalyan Banerjee and Derek O'Brien.
Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha were expelled on June 1, minutes after chief minister Suvendu Adhikari told reporters that they had filed a written complaint which led to the CID probe into the forgery of signatures of some TMC MLAs in a May 19 resolution that nominated Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the leader of the opposition (LoP).
The team of MPs, led by Kakoli Ghosh and featuring several TMC heavyweights like Saayoni Ghosh, Yusuf Pathan, Rachna Banerjee etc., proposed merger with a lesser known Tripura-based party NCPI to support the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in Parliament. If the merger goes is approved by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the NDA's strength in the Lok Sabha will rise from 294 to 314 seats, still 46 short of the two-thirds majority mark. In the Rajya Sabha, the ruling alliance could reach 155 seats, just eight short of the two-thirds threshold.
Team Mamata counters parallel leadership structure
Team Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday submitted a lst to the EC, mentioning the party's organisational structure "as on June 20, 2026," placing on record its official hierarchy amid competing claims over control of the party, PTI reported, citing sources.
According to the list, Mamata Banerjee is the chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress, while Subrata Bakshi is the vice-president, and Abhishek Banerjee is the national general secretary (Lok Sabha leader).
The office-bearer list also features Derek O'Brien (Rajya Sabha MP) and Dola Sen as joint secretaries and Subhasish Chakraborty as treasurer.
The national working committee includes Mamata Banerjee, Subrata Bakshi, Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O'Brien, Dola Sen and Subhasish Chakraborty.
Other members include Chandrima Bhattacharya, Amit Mitra, Rajesh Pati Tripathi, Asima Patra, Moloy Ghatak, Gautam Deb, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Bulu Chik Baraik, Mukul Sangma, Baiswanor Chattopadhyay, Birbaha Hansda, Kalyan Banerjee, Saugata Roy, Nadimul Haque, Madan Mitra, Biman Banerjee, Mahua Moitra and Kunal Ghosh.Chandrima Bhattacharya has been listed as a member of the national working committee and as West Bengal TMC president, while Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay has been listed as a member and Leader of the West Bengal assembly.
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