Around 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs have reportedly written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking recognition as a separate faction and extending unconditional support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, triggering a fierce response from ruling alliance leaders who described the development as evidence of a deep internal collapse within the West Bengal-based party. The reports emerged on 9 June amid growing signs of a parliamentary split within the TMC.

NDA Leaders Pile On

Rajya Sabha MP and Janata Dal (United) National Working President Sanjay Kumar Jha drew a sharp analogy to describe the situation. 'Booth capturing was something that the TMC was accused of doing, but now everything is coming out openly. You can see how the situation has changed, like a house of cards collapsing. The same condition exists there because, in my view, there is no internal democracy within that party,' he said.

Bihar Minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal also trained his sights on the TMC, alleging that the party's conduct in West Bengal had begun to alienate its own members. 'There is turmoil within the TMC. The way the TMC has allegedly indulged in hooliganism in West Bengal is now having an impact, and as a result, many people within the party are turning against it,' he said.

Senior TMC Figures Named in Dissent Reports

JD(U) National Spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan claimed that internal dissatisfaction had reached the party's senior leadership. 'The way things have been happening, whether it is Kakoli Ghosh or several other senior leaders, many have reportedly expressed their lack of confidence in Mamata Banerjee's leadership. A separate TMC faction is also said to have met Bhupender Yadav. In Delhi, despite Mamata Banerjee's presence, these MPs did not consider it appropriate to meet her,' he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yamini Sharma framed the unrest as a broader rejection of the TMC's governance record. 'It is very clear and evident that even TMC MLAs and MPs are also fed up with the anti-national, anti-democratic, anti-Hindu, and anti-people policies of the TMC and its administration over the last two decades,' she said, while characterising resignations and internal fights as the party's own affair.

Breakaway Faction Taking Shape, Claim BJP Leaders

BJP leader T.R. Sriniwas cited the public statements of senior TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar as emblematic of wider disillusionment. 'Statement of Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar of TMC that she was not allowed to work for her constituency and her people, and Mamata Didi has taken West Bengal 40 years back. This is the cry of an MP, who is a very senior MP from TMC,' he said.

Sriniwas further claimed: 'Approximately 20 MPs have given their consent to form a breakaway faction, and it seems they have approached the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Om Birla, to be recognised as a separate entity and to extend their unconditional support to the NDA.'

Background: Cracks Widen in Bengal Assembly Too

The parliamentary turbulence follows a parallel rupture in the West Bengal Assembly, where reportedly 58 of the TMC's 80 MLAs defied the party high command's directive to appoint veteran leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of the Opposition, instead electing expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee to the post. The twin developments — one at the national parliamentary level and one at the state assembly level — point to a widening organisational fracture within the TMC.

This comes amid a period of sustained political pressure on the party, with the NDA having significantly expanded its footprint in West Bengal in recent electoral cycles. How the Lok Sabha Speaker rules on the recognition request, and whether the TMC high command can arrest the defections, will define the party's immediate political trajectory.