Overview
- Senior TMC leader Madan Mitra resigned his organisational posts under Mamata Banerjee and joined the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel group on Wednesday, signaling the biggest crossover since the party split.
- Mitra told reporters he will remain an MLA while stepping down as chief whip and from national and state committees, describing his shift as a change of 'room' not of party identity.
- The Enforcement Directorate had summoned Mitra’s wife and two sons this week in a probe into alleged illegal municipal appointments and cash and gold payments, and Mitra said his family will cooperate while denying the summons prompted his defection.
- Rebel leaders say the defection strengthens their claim to roughly 60–65 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs and they have set up a parallel organisational structure, while critics and some dissidents blame Abhishek Banerjee’s concentration of power for the split and have urged him to step aside.
- The dispute is moving into formal arenas with fights expected before the Assembly speaker and Election Commission over recognition, party symbol and possible disqualifications, and the split is already changing the careers and security of rank‑and‑file workers and senior TMC figures.