Madan Mitra quits Mamata faction, joins Ritabrata Banerjee's rebel TMC camp
Synopsis
Madan Mitra — once a cornerstone of Mamata Banerjee's TMC — has walked out of her faction and into the rebel camp, citing Abhishek Banerjee's leadership as the party's undoing. With over 60 MLAs already gone and the ED circling his family, his defection may be the clearest signal yet that the Mamata-led faction is approaching a point of no return.
Key Takeaways
Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra resigned all posts in the Mamata Banerjee -led TMC faction on 15 July and joined the rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee .
Mitra blamed Abhishek Banerjee , TMC general secretary, for the party's decline.
The defection followed an Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons to Mitra's wife and sons in the alleged municipal recruitment scam probe.
More than 60 MLAs have now joined the rebel faction, with only a handful remaining with Mamata Banerjee.
Senior leaders Firhad Hakim , Chandrima Bhattacharya , and Jyoti Priya Mallick had already defected before Mitra.
Mitra confirmed he will attend the rebel faction's Martyrs' Day rally in Kolkata on 21 July .
Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra, once among the most trusted loyalists of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday, 15 July formally resigned from all posts in the Mamata-led faction and crossed over to the rival rebel camp headed by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee in the West Bengal Assembly. The move ends days of speculation and delivers another significant blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the party.
What Mitra Said at the Assembly
Seated alongside Ritabrata Banerjee inside the West Bengal Assembly, Mitra announced his resignation from every organisational post he held in the original Trinamool Congress. He trained his sharpest criticism on TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, holding him responsible for what he described as the party's decline.
'I was with the Trinamool, and I remain in the Trinamool. I have only moved from one house to another. The party does not belong to one individual; it belongs to everyone,' Mitra said. He also recited a two-line poem and declared, 'I am not just a Trinamool MLA, I am an MLA of Bengal. I gave up everything for the Trinamool. All the positions I had, I gave up everything.'
Despite the switch, Mitra expressed gratitude towards Mamata Banerjee, acknowledging that she had stood by party workers for a long time. He confirmed he would attend the rebel faction's Martyrs' Day programme in Kolkata on 21 July.
The ED Summons That Preceded the Shift
The defection came a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned Mitra's wife and sons in connection with its money-laundering probe into the alleged municipal recruitment scam in West Bengal. Following the summons, Mitra met former TMC MLA Swarna Kamal Saha at the residence of rebel faction MLA Sandipan Saha in central Kolkata, fuelling speculation about an imminent change of allegiance.
Notably, Mitra drove himself to the Assembly earlier in the day before proceeding to Ritabrata Banerjee's office — a sequence that underscored the deliberateness of the move.
Scale of the Defection Wave
Mitra's departure is the latest in a cascading defection crisis for the Mamata Banerjee-led faction following the party's split in the wake of its West Bengal Assembly election defeat. According to reports, more than 60 MLAs had already joined the rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee, with only a handful remaining with Mamata Banerjee.
Senior leaders who had held significant positions in the Mamata-led faction — including Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya, and Jyoti Priya Mallick — had already crossed over before Mitra's move. His defection adds one of the most prominent names yet to that list.
Who Madan Mitra Was in the Party
Mitra had been entrusted with several critical organisational responsibilities within the Mamata-led faction: president of the Dumdum-Barrackpore organisational district, head of the party's hawkers' wing, and chief convenor of its legislative party. Losing a leader with that portfolio depth signals that the Mamata faction's organisational infrastructure in key parts of West Bengal is under serious strain.
With Mitra's defection, the rebel camp has now consolidated a commanding majority of the party's elected legislators, raising sharper questions about the viability of the Mamata-led faction ahead of the 21 July Martyrs' Day rallies — an annual political litmus test in Bengal.
Point of View
Meaning his exit strips the faction of grassroots machinery in Dumdum-Barrackpore, not just a legislative vote. The timing, one day after the ED summoned his family, will invite scrutiny about whether the switch was driven by political conviction or legal pressure — a distinction that matters for how voters in Bengal read the rebel camp's credibility. The deeper problem for Mamata Banerjee is that the defection wave has now consumed figures she personally elevated, suggesting that Abhishek Banerjee's consolidation of party control may have alienated the old guard far more deeply than the public record has captured.
NationPress
15 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Madan Mitra leave the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction?
Mitra publicly blamed TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for the party's decline, saying the party's current condition was a direct result of his leadership. He announced his resignation from all posts in the Mamata-led faction and joined the rival rebel camp headed by Ritabrata Banerjee on 15 July.
What role did the ED summons play in Madan Mitra's defection?
A day before his defection, the Enforcement Directorate summoned Mitra's wife and sons in connection with a money-laundering probe into the alleged municipal recruitment scam in West Bengal. The summons was followed by Mitra meeting rebel faction MLAs, fuelling speculation about his imminent switch.
How many TMC MLAs have now joined the rebel faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee?
According to reports, more than 60 MLAs had already joined the rebel camp before Mitra's defection, leaving only a handful with the Mamata Banerjee-led faction. Mitra's move adds one of the most senior names yet to the rebel group.
Who else has defected from the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction?
Senior leaders including Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya, and Jyoti Priya Mallick had already crossed over to the rebel camp before Mitra's switch. All had held significant positions in the Mamata-led faction.
What is the Martyrs' Day programme and why does Mitra's attendance matter?
Martyrs' Day on 21 July is a key annual political rally in West Bengal, historically organised by the Trinamool Congress to commemorate those who died in a 1993 police firing. Mitra's confirmation that he will attend the rebel faction's version of the event — rather than any Mamata-led programme — is a public and symbolic break from his former camp.
