West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress is in its most existential crisis since 2021. After BJP’s landslide victory in the 2026 Assembly polls (securing over 200 seats and ending TMC’s 15-year rule), internal revolt has erupted. On June 3, 2026, the party dissolved every committee and frontal wing — a dramatic last-ditch move to avoid a vertical split. Rebel MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, expelled in 2021, was recognised as Leader of the Opposition by Speaker Rathindra Bose with support from nearly 60 MLAs, directly challenging Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Senior leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay asserted the “majority of MLAs will remain with Mamata,” while rumours swirl of 20-50 defectors. Analysts see this as a test of loyalty post-defeat: will the party fracture along generational lines (Mamata vs Abhishek) or hold as a united opposition? The dissolution and reconstitution pledge signal a desperate bid for renewal, but the real question is whether TMC can reinvent itself as a credible alternative or face irreversible decline under BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari government. This split is not just personal, it is a verdict on Mamata’s post-poll strategy.