Trinamool splits: Ritabrata Banerjee named LoP by 58 rebel MLAs in Bengal
Synopsis
The Trinamool Congress has fractured at its core — 58 of 80 MLAs have broken away, installed expelled legislator Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of Opposition, and yet retained Mamata Banerjee as 'supremo'. It is a revolt aimed not at Mamata but at the aunt-nephew architecture, and the sharpest internal rupture in Trinamool's 27-year history.
Key Takeaways
58 of 80 Trinamool MLAs revolted on 3 June in the West Bengal Assembly .
Ritabrata Banerjee , expelled from the party this week, has been named Leader of Opposition .
Mamata Banerjee has been retained as party 'supremo' in the rebel resolution.
Deputy leaders: Sandipan Saha , Siuli Saha , Javed Ahmed Khan ; Chief Whip: Akhruzzaman .
The CID has summoned Abhishek Banerjee twice over an alleged signature mismatch in an earlier resolution.
The rupture follows Trinamool's landslide defeat in the recent Bengal Assembly elections.
The Trinamool Congress formally split on 3 June in Kolkata, with 58 of its 80 legislators in the West Bengal Assembly breaking away to form a rival bloc and naming expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition (LoP). The rebellion comes barely a month after the party's landslide defeat in the recent Assembly elections, marking the sharpest internal rupture in the organisation's history.
Key Developments
A fresh resolution carrying the signatures of the 58 rebel legislators was submitted to the Speaker on Wednesday, claiming to represent the 'real' Trinamool Congress. The Speaker accepted the resolution after the rebel MLAs walked into his chamber following an emergency morning huddle on the Assembly premises.
Ritabrata Banerjee, MLA from Uluberia (Purba) in Howrah, has been designated LoP. Sandipan Saha (Entally, North Kolkata), Siuli Saha (Keshpur, West Midnapore) and Javed Ahmed Khan (Kasba, South 24 Parganas) have been named deputy leaders of the opposition. Veteran MLA Akhruzzaman from Raghunathganj has been named Chief Whip of the new bloc.
Mamata Banerjee retained as supremo
Notably, the breakaway resolution still names former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the party 'supremo' and president — a signal that the rebels are positioning their revolt as a leadership-level correction within the Trinamool fold rather than an outright exit. There has been no public reaction so far from Mamata Banerjee, her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, or any of the 22 legislators still aligned with them.
How the rupture unfolded
Last month, Trinamool general secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee wrote to the Speaker proposing Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as LoP, with Nayna Bandopadhyay and Asima Patra as deputy leaders and Firhad Hakim as Chief Whip. The Speaker, however, insisted that a resolution co-signed by Trinamool MLAs accompany Abhishek's letter.
When that signed resolution was submitted, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha flagged what they described as mismatches in several legislators' signatures. Both were expelled from the party earlier this week. The Assembly secretariat referred the alleged signature discrepancy to the CID, which has reportedly summoned Abhishek Banerjee for questioning twice.
Why it matters
The split leaves the parent Trinamool Congress with just 22 MLAs in a 294-seat Assembly, ceding both the LoP slot and numerical opposition heft to the rebel camp. It also unsettles the long-standing aunt-nephew leadership architecture that has defined the party since 2021. This is the first time since Trinamool's founding in 1998 that a majority of its sitting legislators have walked out together.
What's next
Attention now turns to whether Mamata Banerjee responds with disciplinary action, legal challenge before the Speaker, or a public counter-mobilisation. The CID's line of inquiry into the signature dispute, and any move by the rebel bloc to formally register a new party symbol, will shape the next phase of this unfolding crisis.
Point of View
The rebels have engineered the cleverest possible mutiny: deniable, intra-party, and structurally devastating. The CID summoning Abhishek Banerjee over signature mismatches is the tell — institutional machinery is now being turned inward. For a party built on Mamata's singular charisma, the real question is whether she can still command the street even as she has reportedly lost the floor.
NationPress
21 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What has happened to the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal?
The Trinamool Congress has split, with 58 of its 80 MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly breaking away on 3 June to form a rival bloc. The rebels submitted a fresh resolution to the Speaker, who accepted it, formally recognising the new grouping as a separate legislative entity.
Who is the new Leader of Opposition in the Bengal Assembly?
Ritabrata Banerjee, MLA from Uluberia (Purba) in Howrah, has been named Leader of Opposition by the 58 rebel legislators. He was expelled from the Trinamool Congress earlier this week along with Sandipan Saha.
Is Mamata Banerjee still part of the rebel Trinamool bloc?
Yes, the rebel resolution explicitly names Mamata Banerjee as the party 'supremo' and president. The breakaway group is positioning the revolt as a correction within the Trinamool fold rather than a formal exit.
Why has the CID summoned Abhishek Banerjee?
The CID has reportedly summoned Abhishek Banerjee twice for questioning over alleged signature mismatches in an earlier resolution submitted to the Speaker. The discrepancies were flagged by Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha before their expulsion.
How many MLAs are still with Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee?
Only 22 of the original 80 Trinamool MLAs remain aligned with Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. None of them or the parent party leadership has publicly reacted to the split so far.
