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Rebel TMC MLAs back Ritabrata Banerjee but insist Mamata Banerjee remain supreme leader, reject plan to make her only chief adviser.
File image of TMC founder Mamata Banerjee and LoP Ritabrata Banerjee. (Source: PTI)
A day after the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction seized control of the Trinamool Congress legislature party and installed him as Leader of the Opposition with the backing of 58 MLAs, several legislators moved to reaffirm their loyalty to Mamata Banerjee, insisting that she remains their supreme leader.
The remarks came in response to Ritabrata’s proposal that the former chief minister be appointed as the “chief adviser” to the newly reconstituted legislature party.
Several rebel MLAs openly pushed back against the suggestion, arguing that Mamata Banerjee remains as the party’s supreme leader. Some even warned that they could rethink their support for the new arrangement if her position were reduced to that of a mere chief adviser.
Faultlines In Rebel Camp Over Mamata’s Role
The differences came to the fore during a meeting of the rebel legislative group headed by the newly recognised Leader of the Opposition, Ritabrata Banerjee.
The episode highlighted the challenge facing the dissident camp as it attempts to chart an independent course from MP Abhishek Banerjee while continuing to project loyalty and respect towards TMC founder Mamata Banerjee.
Also Read: ‘Chief Adviser And Guide’: Has Mamata Lost The Trinamool Congress Party She Had Built?
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, rebel MLA Gulshan Mullick said, “We were told that the party would continue under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership. She is not merely an adviser. We want the party to function under her leadership.”
“If Mamata Banerjee is not accepted as the supreme leader, then we will have to think whether we should remain in this bloc or not,” the Panchla legislator added.
The statements underscored a key tension within the rebel camp: the revolt carried out in the name of Mamata Banerjee has now sparked debate over her future role in the party she founded nearly three decades ago.
Echoing a similar sentiment, rebel MLA Sangeeta Roy Basunia of Sitai said, “Mamata Banerjee is our supreme leader and will remain so. She cannot be an adviser. She is our leader.”
What Ritabrata Banerjee Suggested For Mamata?
Ritabrata Banerjee had appealed to Mamata Banerjee to remain their “chief adviser” and “guide this legislative party to do constructive work inside and outside the assembly.”
“We will request her to remain our chief adviser and guide this legislative party to do constructive work inside and outside the assembly. We appeal to her to recognise us as we have a two-thirds majority. But Abhishek Banerjee has no relation with this legislative party,” he said.
The remarks are particularly significant as a large section of the 58 MLAs who rallied behind Ritabrata Banerjee’s takeover of the legislature party had consistently argued that their rebellion was aimed not at Mamata Banerjee but at the increasing influence of her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, within the organisation.
Against that backdrop, Ritabrata’s proposal to designate Mamata Banerjee as the “chief adviser” was seen by many as an effort to preserve the dissidents’ claim that their movement remained aligned with the party founder.
The move was widely viewed as an attempt to reassure Trinamool workers and supporters that the revolt was directed at the party’s current power structure rather than at Mamata Banerjee herself.
Support For Mamata, Rebellion Against Abhishek Banerjee
However, the statements of rebel MLAs on Thursday suggested growing unease within sections of the rebel camp over any move that could be interpreted as reducing Mamata Banerjee’s stature within the party.
The disagreement strikes at the core of the dissidents’ political narrative. Since the rebellion began, many of the rebel MLAs have maintained that their objection was directed at Abhishek Banerjee’s growing influence and not at Mamata Banerjee’s leadership.
Yet, as the group moves to establish a new leadership arrangement following its dramatic takeover of the legislature party, that distinction appears increasingly difficult to sustain.
The dissidents have consistently presented their campaign as an effort to reclaim the party’s original direction rather than a challenge to the leader who founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998 and steered it to power in West Bengal in 2011.
Also Read: ‘If Mamata Comes To Me…’: Defector Humayun Kabir Offers Ex-Boss A Route Back To Bengal Assembly
Even in their communication to the Assembly Speaker, the rebel legislators continued to acknowledge Mamata Banerjee as the party’s chairperson while simultaneously rejecting Abhishek Banerjee’s authority over the legislature party’s affairs.
That separation between loyalty to Mamata Banerjee and opposition to Abhishek Banerjee has remained the cornerstone of the rebels’ argument. It has also helped them counter allegations that their actions amount to an attempt to undermine the party’s founding leadership.
Rift Within TMC
The latest tensions unfold against the backdrop of ongoing turmoil within the Trinamool Congress following its election loss to the BJP and the subsequent split within its legislative ranks.
The crisis escalated on Wednesday when a group of 58 MLAs took control of the legislature party, elected expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition and obtained formal recognition from the Assembly Speaker. The move plunged the party into one of the most serious internal upheavals since its inception.
The rebellion highlighted deepening strains between the party’s organisational leadership and a large section of its legislators, fuelling a broader debate over leadership, succession and the future course of the TMC.
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