08 June,2026 09:37 PM IST | Kolkata | mid-day online correspondent
Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (File pic)
Since the Trinamool Congress (TMC) experienced a landslide defeat in the West Bengal State Assembly elections in 2026, the party led by Mamata Banerjee has been falling like a house built on sand.
TMC, once the formidable force that ended three decades of Left Front rule in West Bengal, today resembles the Biblical parable of a house built on sand that collapses when storms arrive.
Following the state election defeat, its organisational base -- weakened by corruption, factionalism and overreliance on professional consultants -- is being battered by storms of scandal and dissent, according to IANS.
About five days after a breakaway faction comprising 58 of the Trinamool's 80 elected MLAs laid claim to recognition as the "original party" in the West Bengal Assembly, 20 of its 28 Lok Sabha MPs have reportedly made a similar request to the office of the Lok Sabha Speaker.
One of West Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats, Basirhat, remains vacant following the death of the sitting Trinamool MP.
Among the party's 13 Rajya Sabha MPs, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy on Monday announced his resignation from both the Upper House and the party's primary membership.
Roy's current tenure in the Rajya Sabha was scheduled to end in 2029.
The 77-year-old MP was already in trouble within the party following his open support for protesters seeking justice after the rape-murder of an intern at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024, even as the then Mamata Banerjee-led government faced criticism over its response to the incident.
Since the Trinamool's Assembly poll defeat, Roy has been publicly criticising the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) over corruption-related issues.
Mamata Banerjee, once the fiery street-fighter who toppled the state's communist regime in 2011, now appears increasingly detached from the party's grassroots.
Her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, entrusted with organisational control, leans heavily on professional consultants whose strategies allegedly often lack resonance with West Bengal's political culture.
Discontent had been simmering within the party, with many leaders feeling sidelined or coerced.
The current rebellion has drawn comparisons with Maharashtra, where splits in the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party led to breakaway factions being recognised as the "real" parties.
In West Bengal, meanwhile, from the Sandeshkhali episode to the RG Kar incident, widespread reports of corruption, and now the signature scandal, each controversy has chipped away at the party's moral authority, according to IANS.
While Ritabrata Banerjee, a former Communist Party of India (Marxist) parliamentarian, led the rebel MLAs out of the fold in Kolkata, about 1,300 km away in New Delhi, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar reportedly organised dissident MPs.
The 66-year-old physician was upset with the party leadership after being removed unceremoniously as party whip and had earlier resigned from all organisational positions.
She has reportedly forwarded a list of the rebel MPs to the Speaker's office, seeking recognition as a separate bloc aligned with the ruling National Democratic Alliance.
Sources said she believes that the party's latest intimation regarding her removal as Chief Whip has not yet reached the Speaker's office and that she therefore continues to hold the position officially.
Her rise was built on her image as "Didi"-- the benevolent leader who almost single-handedly spearheaded the movement against what was portrayed as the Left's arrogance.
Today, critics allege that her party is increasingly associated with corruption, unable to rein in controversial leaders, and embroiled in controversies over signatures and internal functioning.
Authenticity, they argue, is eroding, and the house built on sand has begun to crumble.
(With inputs from IANS)
