Trinamool Congress (TMC) control appears to be slipping away from its founder Mamata Banerjee with a rebel faction of the party on Monday “replacing” her as president and electing senior MLA Arup Roy to the post – the latest major blow in the ongoing internal turmoil that has rocked the outfit since it lost the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mamata Banerjee’s team has reportedly countered the emergence of a parallel leadership structure by sending a new list of names of its officials and National Working Committee members to the Election Commission (EC), confirming that Mamata Banerjee continues to head the party.
Sources in the rebel camp claimed that around 60 of the 80 TMC members attended or supported the special session in which opposition leader Ritabrata Banerjee formed a new national leadership hierarchy, according to a PTI report. They also said that nearly 70 former Kolkata Municipal Council members and representatives of several districts participated.
The 31-minute special session was held at a Kolkata hotel and included rebel MLAs, former councillors, and party functionaries from across the state.
Meanwhile, the TMC’s disciplinary committee later issued show-cause notices to several senior leaders, including Farhad Hakim, Arup 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 transitional military council crisis worsens
Mamata Banerjee’s struggle to maintain the party and herself as commander-in-chief began early this month with the Speaker, Rathendra Nath Bose, on June 3 recognizing as many as 58 rebel TMC legislators as the main opposition party in the House. Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandiban Saha, who were expelled by the Mamata-led TMC on June 1, became leader and deputy leader of the opposition, respectively. This development came 29 days after the BJP won 207 seats against the TMC’s 80 seats.
Days later, another rebel faction – including 20 MPs – emerged from the TMC, adding to the woes of Mamata Banerjee, who had by this time abandoned most of the party’s elected leaders and left only a few legislators alongside her, including Mahua Moitra, Kalyan Banerjee and Derek O’Brien.
Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandiban Saha were expelled on June 1, minutes after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari told reporters that they had filed a written complaint that led to a CID probe into forging the signatures of some TMC MLAs in the May 19 resolution nominating Subhandeep Chattopadhyay as Leader of the Opposition (LoP).
The team of MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh and comprising several TMC heavyweights like Saayoni Ghosh, Yusuf Pathan, Rachna Banerjee etc., proposed a merger with a lesser-known Tripura-based party NCPI to support the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in Parliament. If the merger is approved by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the NDA’s strength in the Lok Sabha will rise from 294 to 314 seats, 46 seats short of the two-thirds majority mark. In the Rajya Sabha, the ruling alliance can reach 155 seats, only eight seats short of the two-thirds threshold.
Mamata’s team is at odds with the parallel leadership structure
Mamata Banerjee’s team on Tuesday submitted its first application to the EC, mentioning the party’s organizational structure “as on June 20, 2026”, listing the party’s formal hierarchy amid competing claims for control of the party, PTI reported, citing sources.
According to the list, Mamata Banerjee is the president 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 list of office bearers also includes Derek O’Brien (Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament) and Dula Sen as joint secretaries and Subhashish Chakraborty as treasurer.
The National Action Committee includes Mamata Banerjee, Subrata Bakshi, Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O’Brien, Dhola Sen and Subhasish Chakraborty.
Other members include Chandrima Bhattacharya, Amit Mitra, Rajesh Bhatti Tripathi, Asima Batra, Moloy Ghatak, Gautam Deb, Subhandeep Chattopadhyay, Polo Chik Barak, Mukul Sangma, Biswanur Chattopadhyay, Birbaha Hansda, Kalyan Banerjee, Saujata Roy, Nadimol Haq, Madan Mitra, Biman Banerjee, Mahua. Moitra and Kunal Ghosh.
Chandrima Bhattacharya is listed as a member of the National Working Committee and president of West Bengal TMC, while Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay is listed as a member and leader of the West Bengal Assembly.
