Mamata Banerjee Confronts Party Split as Congress Extends Reunion Offer

Mamata Banerjee, chief of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and former chief minister of West Bengal, announced a 15-day deadline for any TMC MPs or MLAs who have left the party to re-join. Speaking at a rally in north Dinajpur, she warned that “traitors” who do not return within the period will have “no place” in the party. The declaration follows defections that began after the TMC’s loss in the state assembly election earlier this year.

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The TMC, founded by Banerjee in 1998 after splitting from the Indian National Congress, ended the Left Front’s 34-year rule in 2011 and governed West Bengal for 15 years. In the most recent assembly election, the party secured 80 of the 294 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the largest single party. A faction led by expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee claimed the “real TMC” and secured recognition as the opposition in the Assembly. Many rebel MPs joined the newly formed Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and pledged support to the BJP-led centre.

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• TMC won 80 seats out of 294 in the assembly election.

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• 58 rebel MLAs have aligned with Ritabrata Banerjee’s faction.

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• 20 of 28 TMC MPs have broken away to join NCPI.

Telegraph India

• The Supreme Court gave the Election Commission three months to rule on the dispute over the party’s “twin flower” symbol.

Mamata Banerjee's 15-Day Deadline For Return Of Rebels, Turncoats

• Mamata Banerjee emphasized that the party’s strength lies with grassroots workers, not leaders, and asserted that the INDIA alliance cannot succeed without the TMC.

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• Sougata Roy, TMC MP, said any merger would require a formal proposal from Congress leadership and involvement of national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

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• Debjit Sarkar, BJP’s West Bengal spokesperson, argued that the TMC “has no other purpose left” now that it is out of power.

Telegraph India

The BJP’s assessment, voiced by Sarkar, positions the TMC as politically exhausted, suggesting its original purpose—to challenge the Left Front—has vanished. This underscores the broader contest for opposition space in Bengal, where the Congress and the TMC have historically been rivals despite recent alliance cooperation at the national level.

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• “There is no need for any separate entity at this moment. Not much is left of the TMC after its defeat in the Assembly elections,” — Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, parliamentary party chairperson

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Sources agree on the scale of the defections, but precise counts of rebel legislators vary slightly. No source provides a definitive timeline for when the Supreme Court’s decision on the party symbol will be delivered, leaving the legal resolution of the split uncertain.

Telegraph India

The Election Commission must issue a ruling on the TMC’s symbol within the three-month window set by the Supreme Court. Both the Congress and the TMC have indicated that any formal merger or alliance shift would require official proposals and internal deliberations, suggesting that negotiations may continue as the parties assess their positions ahead of the next electoral cycle.

Telegraph India