A sparsely attended internal meeting of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) highlighted growing dissent within the party led by Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.
The low turnout suggests a deepening crisis of leadership and stability within the party. This internal friction comes amid reports that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is actively attempting to engineer a split within the TMC ranks.
Of the 41 total TMC members of parliament, only six attended the meeting [1]. Similarly, just eight out of 80 total TMC members of the legislative assembly were present [3, 4].
The lack of participation coincides with reports of a revolt centered around Ritabrata Banerjee, an MLA who was expelled from the party. Some reports indicate that nearly 60 MLAs back the expelled Banerjee for the position of leader of the opposition [5].
This reported support for Banerjee contradicts the low attendance seen at the official party meeting, where only eight MLAs appeared [4]. The discrepancy highlights a volatile environment where a significant portion of the party's legislative wing may be distancing itself from the central leadership.
The tension follows the expulsion of Ritabrata Banerjee, which has served as a catalyst for wider dissatisfaction among party MPs and MLAs [2].
“Only six out of 41 TMC MPs attended the meeting.”
The significant gap between the total number of TMC legislators and those who attended the leadership meeting indicates a potential collapse of party discipline. If a majority of the 80 MLAs are indeed aligned with an expelled member, Mamata Banerjee faces a mathematical threat to her party's legislative stability in West Bengal, potentially opening the door for the BJP to gain more influence through a fragmented opposition.
