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For a politician who built her career on defiance, resilience and an instinctive understanding of Bengal's political pulse, the past month -- the one that marks the aftermath of the West Bengal Assembly election results -- has been nothing short of a political earthquake for Mamata Banerjee. Exactly a month ago, Banerjee remained the undisputed face of the Trinamool Congress, commanding a formidable legislative force. But the party's crushing electoral defeat at the hands of the BJP dramatically altered the political landscape. The setback was made more personal by her own loss from Bhabanipur to her archrival and, as most would like to qualify, her nemesis -- Suvendu Adhikari -- from a constituency long regarded as her political fortress. The poll results shrank the TMC's strength in the Assembly to 80 MLAs, leaving Banerjee to lead the opposition from a position of unprecedented weakness. The party had 215 MLAs in the 2021 state polls. Yet, what appeared to be a devastating ...
Expelled TMC leader Ritabrata Banerjee on Wednesday said the West Bengal Assembly speaker had accepted the rebel camp's bid to be recognised as the party's legislature wing and urged Mamata Banerjee to serve as its chief adviser. This came after 58 dissident MLAs backed legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, who has been expelled from the TMC, as the leader of the legislature party and conveyed their decision to Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose. The latest development effectively placed the control of the TMC's legislative party in the hands of dissidents and marked the most serious challenge yet to the authority of the party leadership following its defeat in the recent assembly polls. Addressing a press conference in the Assembly after meeting the Speaker, Ritabrata Banerjee said his camp had submitted the signatures of 58 MLAs elected on the TMC symbol and "our claim has been accepted by the Speaker". Claiming that a clear majority of the party's legislators were now behind him, he asser
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday dissolved all of its organisational committees in West Bengal and announced a comprehensive review of the party structure, a dramatic move that comes in the backdrop of rebellion by a large section of its legislators. In a statement posted on X, the TMC said that all committees of the party in West Bengal, as well as all of its frontal organisations, stood dissolved with immediate effect. The decision comes hours after dissident TMC MLAs moved the Assembly Speaker seeking recognition as a separate legislature party, deepening the crisis within the organisation following its recent electoral setback. "After careful consideration, it has been decided that all committees of the All India Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, as well as all its frontal organisations, shall stand dissolved with immediate effect," the party said. It said the party would undertake a "comprehensive exercise of introspection, performance review and organisational ...
As many as 58 dissident TMC MLAs backed expelled legislator Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the legislature party and conveyed their decision to West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose on Wednesday, a move that could redraw the opposition's power structure in the House. Sources said that Banerjee, along with fellow rebel MLA Sandipan Saha and several dissident legislators, met the Speaker and submitted letters of support signed by 58 MLAs. They also proposed a new leadership team, naming Banerjee as the legislature party leader, Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha and Shiuli Saha as deputy leaders, and Raghunathganj MLA Akhruzzaman as the chief whip. Under the anti-defection law, a breakaway faction requires the support of at least two-thirds of a legislature party to avoid disqualification. With the TMC having 80 MLAs in the Assembly, the threshold stands at 54. If the rebel camp's claim is accepted, it would comfortably cross that mark and strengthen its case for recognition as a .
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was roughed up on Saturday, allegedly by locals, when he visited West Bengal's Sonarpur area to meet families of post-poll violence victims, police said. Stones, shoes and eggs were hurled at the MP by unidentified people who even attempted to rain blows and kicks on him, while they shouted 'thief, thief' slogans at Banerjee. Television visuals from the spot showed Banerjee being escorted out of the area wearing a helmet, with his shirt torn during the commotion. "Look what they have done to me. This was pre-planned. There is no police in the area. They want to kill me. I will not leave this place till police send their force and offer protection to the victims' families," Banerjee said while meeting the kin of a deceased post-poll violence victim. Local women, holding broomsticks and bamboo sticks, gathered outside the house of the TMC party worker where Banerjee visited. Questioning the purpose of his visit, they raised slogans ..
Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar resigned from all organisational posts of the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday, days after publicly airing her disappointment with the party leadership. The move came a day after she attended Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's administrative review meeting in Kalyani despite her party allegedly instructing her not to participate in it. Dastidar was the national president of the TMC's women's wing and was associated with the party's "Banga Janani" programme. She, however, continues as the MP of the Barasat Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal. In a letter addressed to TMC state president Subrata Bakshi, the four-term Barasat MP resigned from all organisational responsibilities in the party, sources said. They said that she has informed the party that she could no longer continue with these responsibilities. The development is likely to deepen speculation over the evolving equations within the TMC, following its electoral setback and a string of pub
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said that around 30 lakh beneficiaries of 'Lakshmir Bhadar', a financial assistance scheme for women introduced by the previous TMC government, were ineligible as they were either non-Indians or their names were permanently deleted from the voter list. Adhikari introduced a form for the 'Annapurna Bhandar' scheme, as announced by the BJP government to provide Rs 3,000 per month for eligible women in the state. Addressing a press conference at the state administrative headquarters, Nabanna, Adhikari said "approximately 30 lakh beneficiaries" were receiving Lakshmir Bhandar assistance despite being ineligible as their names had been permanently deleted from the voter list, or they had not applied to a SIR-linked tribunal or for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for inclusion. He said that the CAA applicants and those who have appealed to an SIR-linked tribunal after adjudication for entry on the voter list ..
On a humid Saturday evening, barely hours after Suvendu Adhikari took oath as West Bengal's first BJP chief minister at the Brigade Parade Grounds, the mood at several TMC offices across the state was marked by disbelief and unease. At a party office in south Bengal, workers sat silently before television screens replaying saffron celebrations. Tea cups remained untouched and conversations repeatedly returned to one question: what remains of the political machine Mamata Banerjee built over the past 28 years -- the first 13 years in opposition and the last 15 years in power? For the TMC, the crisis unfolding now is no longer merely electoral. It is structural, psychological and existential. The first signs of internal strain surfaced almost immediately after the verdict. Leaders who defended the party leadership until days ago have begun speaking in divergent voices, exposing fault lines long buried beneath uninterrupted electoral dominance. Veteran TMC leader Asit Mazumdar accused
The TMC on Saturday appointed Ballygunge MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly. In a statement, the party announced that Dhanekhali MLA Asima Patra and Chowrangee legislator Nayna Bandyopadhyay would serve as deputy leaders of the opposition. Kolkata Port MLA Firhad Hakim was appointed chief whip in the assembly. Hakim is also the mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The party said the newly appointed leaders would work "with commitment for the interest of the people of Bengal". BJP swept the assembly elections, winning 207 seats in the 294-member House and forming the government in the state for the first time. The TMC won 80 seats in the elections. Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as chief minister earlier in the day.
Questioning the credibility of the electoral process in the West Bengal assembly polls, senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday accused the Election Commission of acting in a "partisan" manner and alleged large-scale irregularities during the elections won by the BJP. In his first social media post after the declaration of results, Banerjee said the TMC would continue to be a "strong, vocal and uncompromising opposition" both in West Bengal and at the Centre. "Throughout this entire process, we witnessed what we believe was deeply partisan conduct by several government agencies as well as the Election Commission of India," Banerjee said in a post on X. "Democratic institutions that are meant to function impartially appeared compromised, raising serious concerns about the fairness, credibility and transparency of the electoral process in West Bengal," the Diamond Harbour MP wrote. Stating that the TMC fought an extremely difficult election where "nearly 30 lakh genuine voter
The Trinamool Congress condemned the killing of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's personal assistant Chandranath Rath by unidentified men on the northern fringes of Kolkata on Wednesday night and demanded a court-monitored CBI probe into the incident. "We strongly condemn the brutal murder of Chandranath Rath in Madhyamgram tonight, along with the killing of three other TMC workers in incidents of post-poll violence allegedly carried out by BJP-backed miscreants over the last three days, despite the Model Code of Conduct being in force," the party said in a statement. "We demand the strongest possible action in this matter, including a court-monitored CBI probe so that those responsible are identified and brought to justice without delay," it said. Violence and political killings have no place in a democracy, and the guilty must be held accountable at the earliest, the statement added.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed the BJP's victory in Bengal and Assam assembly polls a "theft" of the mandate, and a big step forward in the saffron party's mission to "destroy" Indian democracy. Gandhi also came out in support of the TMC, which has been trounced by the BJP in the polls, and urged those gloating over the loss of Mamata Banerjee's party to put petty politics aside. "Some in the Congress, and others, are gloating about TMC's loss.They need to understand this clearly - the theft of Assam and Bengal's mandate is a big step forward by the BJP in its mission to destroy Indian democracy," Gandhi said in a post on X. "Put petty politics aside. This is not about one party or another. This is about India," he said in his post. The BJP ousted Trinamool Congress from power in Bengal and captured power for the third time in a row in Assam in results of assembly polls declared on Monday.
In an election that has upended West Bengal's entrenched political arithmetic, the BJP's sweeping victory has drawn its decisive momentum not merely from traditional strongholds but from unexpected gains in Muslim-dominated districts, where a fractured minority vote quietly rewrote the script that had long favoured the TMC. For over a decade, the TMC's dominance in districts such as Murshidabad, Malda and Uttar Dinajpur rested on a near-complete consolidation of Muslim votes, a bloc that accounts for 50 per cent or more of the population in large parts of this belt. That group, forged in the aftermath of the Left Front's decline in 2011 and reinforced during the polarised 2021 election, appears to have splintered this time with far-reaching consequences. The numbers tell a stark story. Of the 43 assembly seats spread across these three districts, the BJP has surged from just eight seats in 2021 to 19 now. The TMC, which had dominated with 35 seats, has been reduced to 22. The ...