A fresh political crisis gripped West Bengal on Saturday, 6 June after senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Sovandeb Chattopadhyay publicly released a resolution dated 6 May, purportedly signed by 67 TMC MLAs, endorsing him as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The move has intensified a bitter intra-party battle that has already split the TMC's legislative bloc and drawn the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) into a signature forgery investigation.

The Rival Claims

Expelled TMC legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, who currently holds the officially recognised position of Leader of the Opposition, swiftly dismissed Chattopadhyay's resolution. Banerjee pointed out that the signatures of many legislators on the document appeared in block letters — a detail he said raised serious authenticity concerns. He also questioned whether the resolution had ever been formally submitted to the Speaker's office.

Banerjee flagged further discrepancies in the document itself: the colour of the third page reportedly did not match the first two pages, and that page carried no signatures. Given the ongoing CID probe, he said he would limit his comments, adding: 'All I can say is that the truth will be known only if forensic experts examine this document thoroughly and track the tower location of the MLAs on that day. This letter will further fuel the investigation that has begun into the signature forgery case.'

How the Crisis Unfolded

The dispute traces back to last month, when TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee wrote to the newly appointed West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose, nominating Chattopadhyay as LoP, with Nayna Bandopadhyay and Asima Patra as the two deputy leaders of the opposition, and Firhad Hakim as the Chief Whip of the TMC's legislative party.

Speaker Bose insisted that a resolution bearing the signatures of TMC legislators must accompany the letter. Such a resolution was subsequently submitted. However, two legislators — Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha — flagged signature mismatches to the Speaker's office. The Assembly secretariat then referred the matter to the CID, which summoned Abhishek Banerjee for interrogation.

The Split and New Leadership Structure

Last week, the TMC's legislative group formally fractured. 60 of the party's 80 MLAs broke away to form a separate bloc under Ritabrata Banerjee's leadership. Javed Ahmed Khan, Siuli Saha, and Sandipan Saha were named the three leaders of the opposition within this group, while Akhruzzaman was appointed Chief Whip.

A resolution signed by 58 of those 60 legislators was submitted to the Speaker's office last week and has since been accepted — effectively giving Ritabrata Banerjee's faction the official stamp of recognition.

What Happens Next

With the CID probe ongoing and the Speaker having accepted the rival bloc's resolution, Chattopadhyay's latest disclosure appears unlikely to alter the official position in the short term. The forensic examination of the contested document and the tracking of MLAs' locations on the day of signing, as demanded by Ritabrata Banerjee, could become central to the investigation's next phase. The crisis marks one of the sharpest public ruptures within the TMC's legislative wing in recent memory.