Rebel TMC MLAs replace Mamata Banerjee, suspend Abhishek Banerjee, name Arup Roy chief

In a dramatic escalation of the internal crisis within the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the rebel faction led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee has announced senior MLA Arup Roy as the chairperson of what it calls the ‘real’ Trinamool Congress, directly challenging the authority of party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

The move came after a meeting of rebel MLAs, councillors and senior leaders at a hotel in New Town on Monday.

The gathering also approved a parallel organisational structure and suspended TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, signalling an expansion of the rebellion beyond the legislature into the party's organisational framework.

Addressing the meeting, Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that the party's national working committee, constituted in February 2022, had completed its three-year tenure and was not reconstituted as required under the party constitution.

He argued that the failure to renew the organisation had created a constitutional vacuum, making it necessary to rebuild the party's national leadership.

The meeting unanimously approved a new national working committee, initially comprising key leaders such as Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Biplab Mitra, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Sabina Yasmin, Javed Khan and Sandipan Saha, before expanding the panel to 30 members.

Arup Roy was subsequently elected chairperson by voice vote. Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Rathin Ghosh and Sabina Yasmin were named vice-chairpersons, while Ritabrata Banerjee, Javed Khan and Sandipan Saha were appointed general secretaries.

The new committee also decided to appoint an independent auditor to examine the party's finances.

The rebel faction claimed that nearly 60 MLAs and a large number of councillors, including several from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, either attended the meeting or endorsed its resolutions.

However, leaders loyal to Mamata Banerjee rejected the development outright. Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh dismissed the exercise as a ‘comedy show’, asserting that the party remains inseparable from its founder.

The latest developments mark one of the most significant internal rebellions in the party's history.

The crisis has already seen a majority of TMC MLAs backing Ritabrata Banerjee's leadership in the Assembly, while a large section of the party's Lok Sabha MPs have broken away, further intensifying the battle for control of the organisation.