Mahua Moitra mocks NCPI's 'pro-poor' tag as 20 TMC rebels join party
Synopsis
Mahua Moitra's takedown of NCPI's 'pro-poor' branding cuts to the core of TMC's most serious parliamentary rupture in years. With 20 elected MPs now in a virtually unknown Tripura-based party, and TMC bank accounts frozen amid corruption allegations, the split has moved well beyond internal politics into a full-blown institutional and legal confrontation.
Key Takeaways
Mahua Moitra publicly mocked NCPI 's 'pro-poor' social media claims on 21 June , calling the 20 defecting TMC MPs 'not-so-poor traitors'.
20 rebel TMC Lok Sabha members , led by Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Satabdi Roy , have joined the National Citizens Party of India (NCPI) , a Tripura-based party.
Three official TMC bank accounts have been frozen by state police following a request from former treasurer Aroop Biswas .
Rebel MLAs allege that funds from corruption during the Mamata Banerjee-led government were deposited in those accounts.
Moitra challenged the rebels to resign if they used unaccounted money in their Assembly poll campaigns.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra on Sunday, 21 June publicly ridiculed the National Citizens Party of India (NCPI) over its self-described 'pro-poor' positioning, targeting the Tripura-based party's social media claims after 20 rebel TMC Lok Sabha members defected to its ranks. Moitra, who represents the Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia district, West Bengal, has emerged as the most vocal loyalist critic of the rebellion within the party.
Moitra's Social Media Salvo
In a pointed post on her own social media handle, Moitra took direct aim at NCPI's stated mission. 'Introducing NCPI — the new party of the 20 MPs elected on @AITCofficial symbols. Its FB page says it helps the poor people of our society. Really hope it manages to help these 20 not-so-poor traitors too,' she wrote.
The jibe was directed squarely at NCPI's Facebook page, which bills the party as a champion of the underprivileged — a claim Moitra characterised as incongruous given that the defecting MPs were elected on TMC's electoral symbol and organisational support.
The Rebel Bloc and Who Leads It
The 20 rebel Lok Sabha members who broke away from TMC and joined NCPI are led by Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Satabdi Roy, both four-time Lok Sabha members with considerable political standing. Their departure represents one of the most significant internal fractures in TMC's parliamentary history.
Moitra is among the handful of TMC Lok Sabha members who have remained loyal to former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. This comes amid what observers describe as a broader power struggle within the party's parliamentary wing.
Frozen Bank Accounts Deepen the Crisis
Separately, Moitra has also criticised the freezing of three official TMC bank accounts by state police. The freeze followed a letter from Aroop Biswas, former TMC treasurer and former West Bengal minister, who reportedly requested the bank authorities to restrict debit transactions from the accounts.
Biswas' letter came after rebel TMC legislators in the Assembly filed police complaints alleging that funds earned through corruption during the previous Mamata Banerjee-led government had been deposited in those accounts. The bank authorities subsequently froze debit transactions pending further inquiry.
Moitra's Counter-Challenge to Rebels
Responding sharply to the rebel legislators' allegations, Moitra demanded that the defectors first account for how they financed their campaigns in the recently concluded Assembly polls. 'If you think that you used unaccounted money in your campaign and also got elected, then it is your moral duty to resign from the chair. But I know that they will not resign. They are shameless people. They want to take benefits from both sides,' she said.
The escalating war of words signals that the TMC split is far from settled — and that the political and legal fallout is likely to intensify as both factions stake claim to the party's legacy and resources.
Point of View
Which hands the rebels a ready-made counter-narrative. The NCPI's 'pro-poor' branding is easy to mock, but the deeper question is whether TMC can credibly hold the moral high ground when its own accounts are under a police-initiated freeze. The demand that rebels account for campaign funding is a legitimate one, but it risks a symmetrical challenge: if unaccounted money circulated, who authorised it? This intra-party conflict is no longer just about loyalty — it is becoming a contest over which faction controls the institutional and financial infrastructure of a major regional party.
NationPress
21 Jun 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Mahua Moitra criticise NCPI?
Mahua Moitra criticised NCPI because the Tripura-based party, which recently absorbed 20 rebel TMC Lok Sabha members, described itself as 'pro-poor' on its social media page. Moitra argued the claim was contradicted by the fact that the defecting MPs were elected on TMC's symbol and resources, calling them 'not-so-poor traitors.'
Who are the leaders of the rebel TMC faction that joined NCPI?
The rebel group is led by Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Satabdi Roy, both four-time Lok Sabha members. A total of 20 TMC Lok Sabha members broke away from the party to join the National Citizens Party of India (NCPI).
Why were TMC's bank accounts frozen?
Three official TMC bank accounts were frozen by state police after former party treasurer Aroop Biswas wrote to the bank authorities requesting the freeze. The move followed police complaints by rebel TMC legislators alleging that funds from corruption during the previous Mamata Banerjee-led government had been deposited in those accounts.
What did Mahua Moitra say about the rebels and campaign funding?
Moitra challenged the rebel MPs and MLAs to clarify whether the funds they used for their Assembly poll campaigns were accounted or unaccounted. She said that if they used unaccounted money and won, it was their moral duty to resign, adding: 'They are shameless people. They want to take benefits from both sides.'
What is the NCPI and why is it significant?
The National Citizens Party of India (NCPI) is a Tripura-based political party that was largely unknown at the national level before 20 rebel TMC Lok Sabha members joined it. Their defection has transformed it into a significant parliamentary bloc, though critics including Moitra have described it as a 'virtually non-existent' political force prior to the merger.
