Abhishek Banerjee’s name was announced as replacement for the ailing Sudip Bandyopadhyay as the leader of the Trinamool in the Lok Sabha.

Trinamool chairperson and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the decision during a virtual meeting with the parliamentarians held on Monday afternoon.

Soon after Abhishek’s elevation, the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha Kalyan Bandyopadhyay stepped down from his position.

The outburst from the Serampore MP, who also does the heavy lifting for the Trinamool and the Bengal government on legal matters in the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court, indicated Mamata’s unparalleled popularity apart, fissures in the ruling Trinamool are deepening.

“Mamata didi complained in the meeting that proper coordination is not happening in the Lok Sabha. That means I am not doing my job. Sudip Bandyopadhyay is not attending the session. There is no one else. Kakali (Ghosh Dastidar, the deputy chief whip) attends some times. Others are not regular. I have to attend court as well as. Not possible for me to continue in both positions,” said Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, the Serampore MP.

Kalyan’s running feud with party colleague and Krishnagar MP Mahua Moitra is well known. A few months ago the two had a public spat at Delhi’s Nirvachan Sadan, the videos of which were shared by BJP’s IT cell.

In a recent interview to an English news channel, without naming any leader from her party or others, Mahua commented: “You don’t wrestle with a pig because the pig likes it and you get dirty.”

Kalyan was quick to take umbrage at her comments. Trinamool sources said he had raised the issue with the party.

“Let me state this clearly: what I did speak about were questions of public accountability and personal conduct, which every public figure must be prepared to face – man or woman. If those facts are inconvenient or uncomfortable, it does not justify branding legitimate criticism as “misogyny” to escape scrutiny,” Kalyan wrote in a post on X soon after his resignation.

“Labelling a male colleague as “sexually frustrated” isn’t boldness – it’s outright abuse. If such language was directed at a woman, there would be nationwide outrage, and rightly so,” he wrote, addressing Mahua as “democracy’s embarrassment.

Monday’s decision once again cemented Abhishek’s clout in the party.

After the Trinamool’s victory in the 2021 Assembly elections, Abhishek, then a two-time MP from Diamond Harbour, was elevated as the party’s general secretary. Ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, Mamata’s decision puts to rest some of the rumours about her ties with her nephew.

Despite their perceived differences regarding the daily operations of the party, especially on the question of resting the party’s old-guard like Bandyopadhyay.

Mamata’s latest decision indicates her plans for the Trinamool and Bengal include Abhishek.

“It seems Didi is going to listen to Abhishek da in the run up to the Assembly polls. He has always spoken in favour of inducting young blood in the party and fielding clean candidates,” said a Trinamool leader close to Abhishek.

The Diamond Harbour MP had convinced his aunt of the need to bring in the political consultancy agency IPAC which worked well for the party in the 2021 Assembly polls.

He was also instrumental in getting leaders from other parties like Babul Supriyo and Ritabrata Banerjee into the Trinamool fold and ensuring they had a role to play in either the government or the organisation.

Abhishek was the only Trinamool MP to be a member of the delegations sent to other countries post-operation Sindoor. He has also been at the forefront of Trinamool’s flagging the Bengali language debate fuelled by arrests and deportation of mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims from BJP-ruled states.

A six-time MP, the 1949-born Bandyopadhyay is one of the trusted leaders of Mamata and among the party veterans like state minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay and the Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy.

Abhishek was against giving tickets to both Sudip and Roy in the last Lok Sabha polls, and relented on Mamata’s intervention.

“Mamata di has made it clear till either of them decide to step down from electoral politics she will continue to field them,” said a Trinamool leader.

The Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy has also been ailing and is currently hospitalised. Sudip too has been missing from the crucial monsoon session of the Parliament.

The door might have finally been open for a gradual departure of the old guard from the Trinamool and fresh blood being inducted with Abhishek. Possibly that is what Mamata Banerjee wants now.