Several senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, including Firhad Hakim, Kunal Ghosh and Nayana Bandyopadhyay, attended Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s administrative review meeting at state secretariat building, Nabanna, on Wednesday.
The meeting, convened for officials and public representatives from Kolkata, Howrah and South 24 Parganas districts, came amid an escalating battle within the TMC over the appointment of the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
While the presence of expelled MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha at the meeting had been anticipated, the attendance of leaders such as Firhad, Kunal and Nayana attracted particular attention.
Rebellion Over Leader of the Opposition Post
The latest episode in the internal crisis began after TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee named veteran legislator Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition.
However, a section of legislators opposed the decision and refused to accept Sobhandeb’s appointment. The disagreement subsequently evolved into an open confrontation within the legislative party with rebel MLAs submitting formal complaint alleging the first letter appointing Chatterjee as LoP bore “forged signatures.”
The dispute intensified further on Monday when Uluberia Purba MLA Ritabrata Banerjee and Entally MLA Sandipan Saha were expelled from the Trinamool Congress on charges of anti-party activities.
Despite their expulsion, both legislators continued their campaign against the party leadership’s decision on the LoP issue.
Fresh Letter to Speaker
On Wednesday morning, Ritabrata and Sandipan submitted a letter to Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose, declaring Mamata Banerjee as the “chairperson” of the legislative party while proposing a new leadership structure inside the Assembly.
In the communication, the dissident group proposed Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition.
The letter also suggested four names for the posts of Deputy Leader of the Opposition: Sabina Yasmin, Javed Khan, Shiuli Saha and Sandipan Saha.
The move directly challenged the earlier decision through which Mamata Banerjee had nominated Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay for the position.
Members of the rebel camp reiterated that they did not accept Sobhandeb’s appointment and sought recognition for their alternative proposal.
With competing claims now before the Assembly, attention shifted to Speaker Rathindra Bose, whose decision is expected to determine the official leadership structure of the opposition benches. According to sources, the Speaker had sought time until 4 pm on Wednesday before taking a call on the matter.
Nabanna Meeting Draws Attention
Against this backdrop, the arrival of TMC legislators at Nabanna assumed added political significance.
The presence of Firhad Hakim, Kunal Ghosh and Nayana Bandyopadhyay was particularly notable because all three had been seen standing firmly alongside Mamata Banerjee until as recently as Tuesday.
Their attendance at Suvendu Adhikari’s administrative meeting fuelled speculation that the divisions within the party were becoming increasingly fluid and that leaders from rival camps were finding themselves on the same platform.
Budge Budge MLA Ashok Deb was also present at the meeting.
The development echoed an earlier instance involving Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who had attended a similar administrative meeting in Kalyani covering Nadia, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts. Kakoli had also publicly voiced criticism of the party leadership, making her appearance at the government programme politically significant.
A Day After Mamata’s Protest
The Nabanna meeting took place barely a day after Mamata Banerjee led her first major political mobilisation since the party’s electoral defeat.
On Tuesday, the former Chief Minister staged a sit-in protest at Y-Channel in Esplanade. Firhad Hakim, Nayana Bandyopadhyay and Ashok Deb were present at the programme, while Kunal Ghosh also attended before reportedly leaving after feeling unwell.
However, the protest drew only a limited number of senior Trinamool leaders, a fact that did not go unnoticed amid ongoing speculation about the party’s internal cohesion.
The backdrop to the unrest had been set days earlier when Abhishek Banerjee was allegedly attacked while visiting Sonarpur to meet the family of a Trinamool worker said to have been killed in post-poll violence. Following that incident, Abhishek had largely remained away from public political programmes.
Party Restructuring Announcement
Even as the dissident camp pressed its claim before the Speaker on Wednesday, the Trinamool Congress leadership announced a major organisational overhaul.
In a social media post, the party declared that all organisational committees had been dissolved and that new committees would be constituted following an evaluation of performance.
The announcement was interpreted as an attempt by the leadership to regain control of a rapidly evolving situation.
Yet, with rival claims over the Leader of the Opposition post, expulsions of sitting legislators, public displays of dissent and a sweeping organisational reset, the divisions within the Trinamool Congress have become increasingly visible, setting the stage for a critical phase in the party’s post-election transition.
