In yet another major blow to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) faction, leader Chandrima Bhattacharya resigned from all posts of the party, including that of the TMC’s West Bengal president. This fuelled speculations that she may soon join the expanding camp of TMC rebels.
TMC chief and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday announced that she will also assume the role of the party’s state unit president and inducted Madan Mitra and Kunal Ghosh into the state committee as General Secretaries.
The move came barely a month after Bhattacharya was entrusted with the responsibility, deepening the crisis engulfing the TMC following its crushing defeat in the Assembly elections.
Bhattacharya also withdrew herself as the authorised signatory of the accounts of the TMC and its associate organisations maintained in various banks and as Mamata Banerjee’s authorised representative before the Election Commission.
A former minister who handled key portfolios such as finance and health, and a long-time confidante of Mamata Banerjee, Bhattacharya was appointed the party’s state president on June 3, replacing veteran leader Subrata Bakshi.
In a letter addressed to the TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee, Bhattacharya said, “At the end I would like to state that I have the highest regards for you and will remain ever respectful to you.”
Why did Bhattacharya resign?
Bhattacharya later clarified that her decision was triggered by Banerjee’s over-the-phone admonishment, blaming her for “allowing the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction of the party to take control of the party’s Trinamool Bhavan operational headquarters” in Kolkata.
Bhattacharya was present at her office when the Ritabrata-led rebel faction had walked into the Trinamool Bhavan on Friday, but had left the building shortly after, news agency ANI reported.
The rebel faction leaders held a meeting at the premises before changing the locks of the main gate and declaring they would henceforth operate from the premises.
“I was deeply hurt when she [Mamata Banerjee] called me to say that I have handed over the party office to them [the rebels], although I do not know how I did that. It is evident that my loyalty and trustworthiness were shaken from their roots. This had never happened in the past,” Bhattacharya said.
“Humko bohot dukh laga [I was hurt],” she said in her interview with ANI.
She said once those fundamental binding forces are gone, there is no reason for her to stay in the party or return to it.
“I hold no grudge against anyone. I think I must have failed to shoulder the responsibility I was entrusted with, and hence I have stepped aside,” she added.
Asked whether she would join the rebel camp, Bhattacharya said, “There’s more to life than this. One must acknowledge the path time takes you on, but I am yet to decide the course I will chart”.
Bhattacharya, however, refused to comment on the deepening factional fights within the party and which side she supported on grounds that “the matters are sub judice either before the Election Commission or before the court”.
Minutes later, Bhattacharya was seen sitting in a meeting with the rebel camp leaders at the chamber of Ritabrata Banerjee, the Leader of Opposition, in the state legislative assembly.
Bhattacharya was welcomed at the assembly gate by the deputy leader of Opposition and a prominent member of the rebel camp, Sandipan Saha.
“There was no meeting. I went to the Assembly to take care of some documentation work as an ex-MLA. I needed a room to sit, and I couldn’t have gone to a room allotted for the ruling party. Hence, I chose to sit in the room of the opposition. This has nothing to do with me joining the rebel faction,” she maintained.
Bhattacharya’s move came within weeks of her son, Sourav Basu, a former Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillor of the TMC, joining the rebel camp and attending its meetings. Basu was also seen present at the state assembly huddle.
Mamata Banerjee reacts
Reacting to Chandrima Bhattacharya’s resigntion, Mamata Banerjee said, “The person who resigned today did not make this decision overnight. She had been planning to leave the party for a long time because her son had already joined that party. So be it.”
“No political party depends on just one or two individuals; it relies on its workers and the public. There have even been instances where an individual stayed under my protection for days because they feared arrest by the BJP. I provided them with shelter, food, and support,” Mamata Banerjee was quoted by ANI as saying.
Earlier, addressing party workers on Saturday, Banerjee questioned how rebel leaders who had contested the 2026 Assembly elections on TMC tickets could turn against the party within months.
“I extend my solidarity, salute, congratulations, and best wishes to ordinary people, grassroots workers, and those from the original All India Trinamool Congress who are still with the party and have not betrayed it by seeking shelter in the BJP,” she said, as per PTI.
“For the past few days, you may have noticed that my party colleagues and spokespersons have been speaking, but I have spoken very little. The reason is that sometimes I feel silence speaks the loudest…,” she added.
Accusing the rebels of working in the BJP’s interest, Banerjee said, “Those traitors are acting according to the BJP’s wishes. I would tell them to go and join the BJP directly. TMC’s ideology is anti-BJP.”
“Remember, I am still alive,” she was quoted by News18 as saying.
What did Mamata-loyalist says?
Commenting on the development, TMC MLA and Mamata-loyalist Kunal Ghosh took a jibe at the dissident leader, stating Bhattacharya’s self-esteem never got hurt when Mamata Banerjee entrusted her with the responsibilities of multiple key departments in the government.
It has only surfaced after the party lost the polls, he said.
“Had she stayed back at Trinamool Bhavan for another 15 minutes after the rebel leaders had gone there, we would have reached the venue and stopped them from taking control of the building. As the party’s state president, that was the least she could have done. Instead, she chose to leave,” Ghosh alleged.
Bhattacharya countered the allegation stating she stuck to her routine and had left the building at her usual time.
“How can I stop the leaders if they never tried to enter my office? They were in a different part of the building and were nowhere near where I was,” she asserted.
Bhattacharya, a three-time MLA of the state, was humbled by BJP’s Sourav Sikdar at the Dum Dum Uttar constituency in the 2026 assembly elections.
Among the most prominent exits was former Kolkata Mayor and senior minister Firhad Hakim, who joined the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel camp.
Veteran MLA Jawed Khan and senior leader Golam Rabbani also aligned with the dissident faction, while as many as 20 of the party’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs joined a breakaway group seeking recognition as a separate parliamentary bloc after merging with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and extending support to the NDA.
The rebellion has deepened into an organisational crisis, with the dissident camp staking claim to the party’s headquarters, symbol and funds, prompting the Election Commission to begin proceedings on the dispute.
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