West Bengal: After poll defeat, TMC faces rebellion, resignations, and questions over its future

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 sandTMC 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 arriveFollowing 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 IANSChaos within the party escalatesAbout five days after a breakaway faction comprising 58 of the Trinamoolrsquos 80 elected MLAs laid claim to recognition as the ldquooriginal partyrdquo 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 SpeakerOne of West Bengalrsquos 42 Lok Sabha seats Basirhat remains vacant following the death of the sitting Trinamool MPSukhendu Sekhar Roy resigns from the TMCAmong the partyrsquos 13 Rajya Sabha MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Roy on Monday announced his resignation from both the Upper House and the partyrsquos primary membershipRoyrsquos current tenure in the Rajya Sabha was scheduled to end in 2029The 77yearold MP was already in trouble within the party following his open support for protesters seeking justice after the rapemurder of an intern at Kolkatarsquos RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024 even as the then Mamata Banerjeeled government faced criticism over its response to the incidentSince the Trinamoolrsquos Assembly poll defeat Roy has been publicly criticising the Trinamool Congress Party TMC over corruptionrelated issuesMamata Banerjee once the fiery streetfighter who toppled the statersquos communist regime in 2011 now appears increasingly detached from the partyrsquos grassrootsQuestions raised over Abhishek Banerjeersquos strategies to move TMC aheadHer nephew Abhishek Banerjee entrusted with organisational control leans heavily on professional consultants whose strategies allegedly often lack resonance with West Bengalrsquos political cultureDiscontent had been simmering within the party with many leaders feeling sidelined or coercedThe 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 ldquorealrdquo partiesIn 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 partyrsquos moral authority according to IANSWhile Ritabrata Banerjee a former Communist Party of India Marxist parliamentarian led the rebel MLAs out of the fold in Kolkata about 1300 km away in New Delhi Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar reportedly organised dissident MPsThe 66yearold physician was upset with the party leadership after being removed unceremoniously as party whip and had earlier resigned from all organisational positionsShe has reportedly forwarded a list of the rebel MPs to the Speakerrsquos office seeking recognition as a separate bloc aligned with the ruling National Democratic AllianceSources said she believes that the partyrsquos latest intimation regarding her removal as Chief Whip has not yet reached the Speakerrsquos office and that she therefore continues to hold the position officiallyIs this the downfall of Mamata lsquoDidirsquoHer rise was built on her image as ldquoDidirdquo the benevolent leader who almost singlehandedly spearheaded the movement against what was portrayed as the Leftrsquos arroganceToday critics allege that her party is increasingly associated with corruption unable to rein in controversial leaders and embroiled in controversies over signatures and internal functioningAuthenticity they argue is eroding and the house built on sand has begun to crumbleWith inputs from IANS