Only 8 MLAs, 6 MPs Show Up At Mamata’s Meeting: Is The TMC Rebellion Getting Bigger?

As dissent rocks the Trinamool Congress, a sparse turnout at the party chief's residence has intensified speculation regarding a formal split.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is currently navigating its most precarious existential crisis since its inception three decades ago. Following a series of electoral setbacks, the party is witnessing an open revolt, with a significant number of its 80 state legislators aligning with a rebel faction. The internal instability became starkly apparent on Friday when only eight MLAs and six MPs attended a high-stakes meeting at Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence. This low attendance, which followed a previous gathering that was cancelled after nearly 60 MLAs failed to appear, has prompted observers to question if the party is on the verge of a historic fracture.

A Growing Divide

The rebellion is being spearheaded by Ritabrata Banerjee, a former student leader who was expelled from the CPI(M) in 2017 before being nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the TMC in 2024. This week, the political landscape shifted dramatically when the Speaker recognized Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition, a move the official TMC leadership has vowed to challenge in the High Court. According to claims from the rebel camp, they have secured the support of more than two-thirds of the legislative party—a threshold that would theoretically allow them to bypass anti-defection laws and split the organization.

The party leadership, however, maintains a different narrative. Addressing the concerns over the meeting’s attendance, TMC spokespersons clarified that the Friday gathering was strictly a session of the National Working Committee rather than a plenary meeting of all legislators. They noted that several key figures, including Mahua Moitra and Mukul Sangma, participated in the proceedings virtually. Despite these assurances, the optics of the empty chairs at the Kalighat residence have fueled widespread speculation that Mamata Banerjee is losing her grip on the party machinery she meticulously built after breaking away from the Congress.

Tactical Shifts and Legal Battles

In response to the mounting pressure, the TMC has initiated a major organizational reshuffle. Senior minister Chandrima Bhattacharya has replaced Subrata Bakshi as the state president, while Abhishek Banerjee remains the national general secretary. The party is also taking the fight to the legal and public spheres, with leaders like Kalyan Banerjee announcing petitions against the Speaker’s decision to recognize the rebel-led Opposition bloc. Simultaneously, the party has sought to frame the absenteeism of its MLAs not as a revolt, but as a commitment to ground-level protest duties against alleged BJP-led violence targeting their cadres.

As the "Asli TMC" vs. "Mamata" row continues to escalate, the political future of West Bengal remains in flux. While the rebels boast that their numbers will only continue to climb, the official party leadership remains in a defensive crouch, attempting to consolidate its remaining loyalists. With reports suggesting that dozens of MPs are in contact with the rebel camp, the coming days will be critical in determining whether the Trinamool Congress can weather this storm or if it is destined to split along the lines of the recent political upheavals seen elsewhere in the country.