A rebel plenary led by Bengal's leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee dissolved the Trinamool Congress national working committee on Monday evening, replacing Mamata Banerjee as chairperson and stripping Abhishek Banerjee of his post as national general secretary.
For the first time since the party's formation in 1998, its founder and former chief minister Mamata is not its chairperson.
Executed with the cold efficiency of a hostile corporate takeover in a shade over half an hour at a New Town hotel, the coup weaponised a fatal constitutional lapse to bypass Kalighat entirely, installing Howrah Madhya MLA Arup Roy, a former member of the Mamata-led cabinet, as the new chairperson.
The rebel bloc used the party rulebook and invoked Article 20 of the TMC constitution, which dictates that the national working committee must be reconstituted every three years.
"Because the last panel was registered on February 12, 2022, its statutory term expired on February 11, 2025 (a routine administrative oversight that Kalighat managers simply ignored until the rebel bloc weaponised the omission). Therefore, this meeting was convened to address the constitutional crisis in the party," said the leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly.
The banner at the rebel meeting did not have pictures of Mamata or her nephew Abhishek. Instead, there were pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam.
"This was being planned for days. Eminent lawyers from Delhi were consulted. We made every aspect of our case bulletproof. There is no way to stop this. We made cent per cent sure of that over the weekend," said a rebel leader to this newspaper. "A lot of paperwork is currently underway; we are going fully official, doing all of this legally and in total adherence to the statutes," he added shortly after the meeting.
Former ministers Aroop Biswas and Firhad Hakim — two of Mamata's fiercest loyalists till only days ago — were made vice-presidents, along with another former minister, Rathin Ghosh.
Ritabrata was made a general secretary, as were Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha, and Sabina Yeasmin. Former minister of state Akhruzzaman was appointed treasurer.
"The decisions were taken unanimously. They will be duly informed to the Election Commission of India," Ritabrata said at a news conference later. "Our fight is of the collective against a cult of individuals."
Didi's 'role'
Asked by this newspaper about the future that the rebel group envisages for Mamata, Ritabrata said: "She is always welcome as our margdarshak (mentor)."
Contrary to initial rumours, Ritabrata suggested Abhishek was not suspended. Asked specifically about this, he asked: "Which Abhishek? Who is Abhishek Banerjee?"
"He was not discussed at all. His name did not feature in the meeting. Not once did this even come up," he told The Telegraph, when asked to respond with a "yes" or a "no" to whether the Diamond Harbour MP was suspended by the rebel bloc.
Audit order
To deepen the isolation of the Kalighat loyalists, the new committee ordered an immediate audit by an independent, qualified auditor to investigate past party funds, directly challenging control over Trinamool's "white money" war chest of at least ₹1,100 crore. Besides 64 TMC MLAs, at least 70 Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillors, dozens of present and past councillors from various civic bodies across Bengal, and several other leaders were physically present.
This institutional haemorrhaging runs parallel to the parliamentary wing, where at least 20 out of the party's 28 Lok Sabha MPs have already shifted to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India to back the ruling NDA in Delhi. Rajya Sabha members Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev, Prakash Chik Baraik have resigned their seats — Koel Mallick's purported resignation is yet to be formalised, because it was sent via email.
Kunal claim
Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh, one of the last remaining Mamata loyalists, laughed off the decisions made at the New Town hotel, asserting that the Ritabrata-led bloc had no authority, claiming protection by the same party constitution.
"It is a comedy show. A man expelled from the TMC is holding a special session. The matter is in court, and we believe justice will be done. We do not give any importance to such comical behaviour. Trinamool Congress equals Mamata Banerjee. All else is a circus," said Ghosh.
However, the physical reality of 64 of Trinamool's 80 MLAs abandoning Kalighat has indubitably altered the maths for the party and Bengal politics.
The fight now shifts to an inevitable, high-stakes legal warfare over the party's twin-flowers logo, setting up a protracted battle stretching from the EC to the Supreme Court.