TMC MP Mahua Moitra launched a sharp public attack on senior party colleague and fellow Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay on Monday, 15 June 2026, accusing him of faking illness to travel to Delhi and committing what she called an act of political betrayal — or gaddari — against the party.

Context

In a direct post on X, Moitra addressed Bandyopadhyay — whom she called 'Dada' — and reminded him of his 2017 arrest in connection with the Rose Valley chit-fund scam. She alleged that at the time of his arrest he had faked illness and used the then BJD government in Odisha to facilitate a transfer from jail to a hospital. She drew a parallel with what she described as a fresh instance of feigned illness, this time to board a flight to Delhi.

Moitra explicitly stated that TMC leaders Tapas Roy and Kunal Ghosh had previously raised concerns about Bandyopadhyay's reliability, and that those warnings had proved correct. 'Tapas Roy and Kunal Ghosh were right about you. We were wrong!' she wrote.

Policy Backdrop

The Rose Valley scam was one of the largest chit-fund frauds to emerge from West Bengal and Odisha, with investigations and arrests spanning from 2014 onward. Several political figures across party lines faced scrutiny, chargesheets, and detention in connection with the case. Allegations of accused politicians using medical grounds to secure transfers from judicial custody to hospitals surfaced repeatedly during these proceedings.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a veteran TMC MP and former Union Minister, was among those arrested in 2017 in the Rose Valley case. His detention and subsequent medical claims at the time drew significant political attention. The BJD, which governed Odisha during that period, was separately accused of facilitating his hospital transfer — a charge the party denied.

Stakeholders and Impact

Moitra's post represents one of the most direct public rebukes of a senior TMC colleague by another sitting party MP in recent memory. By invoking Kunal Ghosh and Tapas Roy — both of whom have at various points been vocal about internal TMC dynamics — she signals that dissatisfaction with Bandyopadhyay's conduct has a longer party history than the current episode.

The accusation of gaddari (betrayal) carries particular weight ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections scheduled for 2026, when TMC's internal cohesion and the loyalty of its senior figures will be under close scrutiny. Any visible fracture at the parliamentary level could have downstream consequences for the party's electoral positioning in the state.

What's Next

It remains to be seen whether the TMC leadership will initiate any formal disciplinary proceedings following Moitra's public statement, or whether Bandyopadhyay will respond directly. The episode is likely to intensify questions about floor-crossing and political loyalty within the party at a sensitive moment. Observers will watch closely for any official party communication or response from Bandyopadhyay's camp in the coming days.