TMC Crisis: Why Mamata Banerjee’s party faces an unprecedented divide and what comes next

The turmoil engulfing Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has created a rare political situation in West Bengal.

The party is witnessing unrest both in the Assembly and in Parliament. The two factions appear to be moving in very different directions. Despite their contrasting political positions, each side insists that it embodies the true spirit and legacy of the TMC.

Most of the MLAs, who formed the breakaway faction of the TMC’s legislative partyand secured legitimacy in the state assembly, vowed “constructive opposition” and simultaneously positioned themselves against the BJP’s politics in Bengal, while the rebel Lok Sabha members followed suit five days later, only to pledge their allegiance to the BJP-led NDA.

Fresh blows today

Sushmita Dev become the second TMC leader to resign from Rajya Sabha on 10 June. The announcement came on a day when senior party leader Abhishek Banerjee met Rahul Gandhi. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi. She met Sonia Gandhi twice in last three days.

“I have left Trinamool Congress. It is a long story why I left TMC. I don’t want to be in a situation where I am in two boats at the same time. I will not comment on Mamata Didi,” Dev told reporters after resigning on Wednesday.

Saayoni Ghosh, one of the prominent TMC faces in Lok Sabha, is reportedly in touch with eebel TMC MP Kakoli Dastidar’s camp in the Upper House.

Both factions sought to legitimise their actions by invoking the cause of broader “development of Bengal”, contending that the state’s progress had been “impeded” during the Mamata Banerjee regime.

On June 3, expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, backed by a bloc of 58 of 80 TMC legislators – more than the two-thirds needed for legislative identity – secured recognition from Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose as the Leader of the Opposition, formally crystallising a breakaway faction within the legislature.

The group, while asserting autonomy from the party’s central leadership – mainly its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee – struck an aggressive political posture, declaring its intent to serve as the principal opposition force in the House.

“We will deliver constructive opposition on the floor of the House, which won’t be opposition for the sake of opposition like before. It will be an opposition for the sake of Bengal’s development. Politically, we will not grant an inch to the BJP,” Ritabrata had told reporters.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar camp

Five days later action shifted to Delhi. A dramatically similar, yet ideologically divergent, development unfolded as a section of TMC’s parliamentary unit, reportedly comprising 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, submitted a communication to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressing alignment with the BJP-led NDA.

The move signalled a split within the party’s national representation and an unexpected ideological drift towards the ruling coalition at the Centre.

“We have accepted the people’s verdict and believe that our future political course should be aligned with NDA,” Ghosh Dastidar said.

Two factions, two contradictions

The two developments expose a rare organisational contradiction: one faction of the same party positioning itself as a combative anti-BJP opposition in the state, while another appears to be gravitating toward alignment with the BJP at the national level.

The result is not merely organisational disunity, but a deeper ideological incoherence that risks redefining what “opposition” means within the TMC’s fractured structure.

Political analyst Subhomoy Maitra told news agency PTI that the explanation to the paradox may lie in the cradle of parliamentary democracy in India. “The biggest success a party can achieve in our parliamentary democratic system is in its ability to choose both the ruling bloc as well as the opposition,” he said.

“In Bengal, for instance, a party may present itself as an opponent of the BJP, while at the national level it may align with or support the NDA on key issues. For a party such as TMC, lacking a coherent ideological foundation and operating from a position outside power, such a multi-layered political existence has become a practical necessity,” he said.

‘Little reason to object to this duality’

The BJP has little reason to object to this duality. Regardless of TMC’s public posture, observers say, its actions often serve the BJP’s broader political interests.

“The BJP understands that parties constrained by ideological inconsistency and political vulnerability may adopt confrontational rhetoric when required, yet ultimately remain within a framework that does not fundamentally challenge the larger political order,” an observer said.

Whether the duality is an isolated tactical deviation or early signs of a structural realignment remains uncertain.

But what is clear is TMC’s internal fragmentation has moved beyond factional noise into a deeper redefinition of political identity – where opposition, alliance, and survival are no longer fixed categories, but competing interpretations of the same party line.

As for 20-odd MLAs and eight MPs who currently comprise Banerjee’s effective strength of lawmakers, analysts say individual political positions could serve as temporary glue.

“A part of the leaders who stayed back are from Congress or have backgrounds in far Left ideals, both of whom are ideologically opposed to the BJP. They may, for now, stay with Mamata for political reasons. But there’s no stopping them from crossing over later,” the observer said.