28-year-old TMC split in just 13 days:58 MLAs form separate faction; Mamata aides attend Suvendu meeting

In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has faced a split for the first time in 28 years since its formation. On Wednesday, 3 June, 58 rebel TMC MLAs out of 80 elected Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the legislative party, replacing Mamata Banerjee. The Speaker also approved this claim. The entire game of rebellion began on May 22 with a meeting between TMC MLA Ritabrata Banerjee and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at Banga Bhawan in Delhi. This single meeting split the party into two in just 13 days. Amidst the ongoing political crisis within the TMC, several leaders considered close to Mamata attended CM Suvendu’s administrative review meeting on Wednesday. These included Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, Kunal Ghosh, Nayana Bandyopadhyay, and Ashok Deb. This development further exposed the ongoing power struggle within the party. Confusion over Kolkata Mayor stepping down, Hakeem has not submitted his resignation Confusion persisted on Wednesday regarding the resignation of TMC leader and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Mayor Firhad Hakeem. Kunal Ghosh claimed that Mamata Banerjee had accepted his resignation, but Hakeem did not formally resign until night. KMC Chairperson Mala Roy also stated that she had not received any resignation. According to sources, Hakeem is now reconsidering his decision. It is being said that Hakeem’s decision changed after attending a meeting chaired by CM Suvendu. Some party leaders had also questioned his presence at the meeting. Hakim is considered among Mamata’s closest leaders. He has been the Mayor of Kolkata since 2018 and has long been among TMC’s prominent Muslim faces. He is the first Muslim Mayor in the history of Kolkata Municipal Corporation after independence. KMC instructed to issue notice to Abhishek Banerjee’s relative and company Amid ongoing legal proceedings, the Calcutta High Court has directed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to issue a fresh notice to Amit Banerjee and the company Leaps and Bounds. The matter pertains to a building in Kalighat, where Abhishek Banerjee resides. The court has instructed the civic body to issue a detailed notice within one week, while allowing the petitioners three weeks to respond. Amit Banerjee and Leaps and Bounds had earlier informed the High Court that the notices issued by KMC were incomplete and lacked adequate details. What Next: Mamata Banerjee may lose opposition status A breakaway group of 58 out of 80 Trinamool Congress MLAs is now functioning separately, leaving the Mamata Banerjee-led faction with 22 members. In the West Bengal Assembly, a party requires at least 10% of the total strength (30 MLAs out of 294) to be recognised as the official opposition. In the current scenario, the Mamata-led faction falls short of this threshold and may not be eligible for opposition status. While the group is expected to sit on the opposition benches, its official privileges could be significantly reduced. The dissident camp is reportedly being led by Ritabrata Banerjee. Under the anti-defection law, a split is protected if supported by at least two-thirds of the legislature party strength (54 MLAs). With 58 MLAs reportedly aligned, the faction would meet this requirement and avoid disqualification. The rebel bloc is also said to include 17 Muslim MLAs from the Malda and Murshidabad regions.
In the last 10 years, 5 parties have split in 4 major states of the country