TMC's Bengal mutiny moves to Delhi, overshadows Mamata Banerjee's INDIA bloc push

The seeds of dissent that first sprouted in Kolkata have now reached Delhi. Fresh from an electoral drubbing and having already lost control of her legislative wing, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee arrived in the national capital on an overcast Sunday morning.

But the gathering clouds over Delhi seemed symbolic of the political storm that continued to shadow her on Monday as she headed to the INDIA bloc meeting at the Constitution Club.

As Mamata took her seat alongside Opposition leaders, including the Gandhis, the ground beneath her own party appeared to be shifting.

The first blow came in the form of a scathing resignation letter from TMC veteran Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, the party's chief whip in the Rajya Sabha for 13 years.

Soon after, a photograph surfaced showing Roy in a closed-door huddle with at least five TMC Lok Sabha MPs, fuelling speculation that the rebellion that had torn through the party's legislative ranks was now spreading to its parliamentary wing.

Then came another striking image. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's convoy rolled into Delhi and stopped outside the residence of Union minister Bhupender Yadav. Yadav, the BJP's key strategist for the 2026 Bengal elections, is learnt to have hosted Adhikari along with 20 TMC Lok Sabha MPs. Notably, this rebel group would need the support of at least 19 of Trinamool's 28 Lok Sabha MPs to break away without attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Leading the rebels' pack was veteran Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who quit all party posts last month after being replaced as the party's chief whip in Lok Sabha. Dastidar, long considered a close aide to Mamata Banerjee, declared that twenty TMC MPs, including her, had decided to write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and convey the group's desire to be part of the NDA.

"We have accepted the people's verdict and believe that our future political course should be aligned with the NDA. Accordingly, we will be communicating our decision to the Speaker. We want to be part of the NDA," Dastidar said.

As Mamata discussed a national roadmap to take on the BJP inside the INDIA bloc meeting, her own party was coming apart at the seams just a few kilometres away -- brick by brick, MLA by MLA, and now MP by MP.

Mamata's bargaining power at the INDIA bloc table is eroding in real time. While she sought to project opposition unity in Delhi, her authority within the TMC continued to unravel in Bengal.

First-time MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, expelled by TMC shortly after the election results, emerged as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) after marshaling the support of 59 TMC MLAs.

He later claimed that two more legislators had crossed over, tightening the rebels’ hold and further eroding Mamata’s authority, overriding her decision to appoint her aide Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the LoP, much to her chagrin.

Before arriving in Delhi, Mamata Banerjee turned down Ritabrata’s offer of joining hands and sidelining her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee.

In a bid to keep her house in order, she carried out major organisational reshuffles to stabilise the party’s structure ahead of an impending legal battle over the party’s symbol and insignia.

While Mamata did not sideline Abhishek or meet one of the rebel camp’s key demands, she is said to have clipped her nephew’s wings to limit his influence over organisational affairs.

Abhishek Banerjee is no longer the sole national general secretary of the party, with two additional general secretaries -- Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen -- being appointed, in what is widely seen as a move to balance internal power equations within the party.

What began as dissent in Bengal has now spilled into the national capital, turning Mamata Banerjee’s Delhi visit into a backdrop of escalating organisational crisis and shifting loyalties, as the political churn within the Trinamool Congress deepens.