The political aftershocks of the TMC's assembly election defeat are now beginning to ripple through one of the party's strongest and most enduring power centres – Bengal's civic bodies -- with a wave of resignations and public expressions of discontent exposing signs of strain in structures that once formed the backbone of its grassroots machinery.
In the latest blow, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) councillors Sushanta Ghosh and Arup Chakraborty resigned from key civic posts on Wednesday, using the occasion to launch an unusually candid attack on the party leadership and its post-defeat handling of the situation.
Ghosh resigned as chairman of Borough XII, while Chakraborty stepped down as chairman of the civic body's accounts committee. Both, however, retained their councillor posts.
Their comments carried a sting sharper than the resignations themselves.
"One has to accept defeat. If we fail to accept a loss, previous victories also lose meaning," Chakraborty told reporters, in remarks seen by many as an indirect rebuttal to sections within the party leadership that had contested the scale and narrative of the electoral setback.
Both leaders alleged that senior ministers and influential leaders had become inaccessible after the election results.
"For years, we could not even reach the chief minister because of some people around her. After the defeat, many of those leaders disappeared from the streets," Chakraborty said.
In a politically loaded remark, they also thanked the BJP government for helping "displaced" supporters return home -- a statement that immediately triggered speculation over possible future political realignments.
Just days ago, councillor Debolina Biswas resigned as chairperson of Borough IX in KMC amid discontent over the party's poor showing in Bhabanipur -- once considered among the TMC's safest bastions.
The developments come amid a widening churn within the TMC after its loss of power in the state earlier this month.
Senior MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar recently resigned from all party posts, while several leaders, MLAs and councillors have publicly voiced dissatisfaction with the leadership. Some have skipped party meetings called by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee, while others have openly questioned organisational functioning.
The tremors are now increasingly visible at the municipal level.
Across the state, councillors in several municipalities have resigned in groups, while many elected representatives have reportedly stopped attending offices, raising concerns over civic functioning and service delivery.
According to party and civic sources, at least 60 TMC councillors across municipalities have resigned from posts or distanced themselves from organisational responsibilities since the change of guard in the state.
For a party that still controls 125 of West Bengal's 128 civic bodies, the developments represent unfamiliar terrain.
For over a decade, municipalities and municipal corporations formed the TMC's most dependable political architecture -- sustaining local patronage networks, extending administrative influence and acting as the party's everyday interface with voters.
But with borough chairpersons stepping down, councillors turning restive and boards showing signs of instability, the unease appears to be moving beyond isolated acts of dissent into what political observers describe as structural stress.
For Sushanta Ghosh, too, Wednesday's resignation carried personal undertones. Recalling the alleged attempt on his life outside his residence last year, he questioned the course of the investigation and urged Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to ensure a proper probe.
In West Bengal's altered political landscape, where the TMC now finds itself occupying opposition benches, its once impregnable civic fortress appears increasingly vulnerable -- and the cracks are no longer confined to whispers in party corridors.