Overview
- Senior TMC leader Madan Mitra resigned all Mamata Banerjee-led organisational posts and joined the Ritabrata Banerjee rebel camp on Wednesday, strengthening the group that already commands a legislative majority.
- Mitra said he had asked Abhishek Banerjee to step aside for six months and left when that request was refused, while insisting he will continue as an MLA though not functionally tied to Mamata’s organisational structure.
- The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Mitra’s wife and two sons in a money‑laundering probe tied to an alleged municipal recruitment scam, a development Mitra and rebel leaders say is unrelated to his move but which Mamata’s camp has called politically timed pressure.
- Ritabrata’s faction has already set up parallel state and district committees and has moved the Election Commission for recognition of party name, symbol and funds, and Mitra’s crossover boosts its claim to be the real TMC.
- The split traces to the TMC’s May defeat and growing complaints about Abhishek Banerjee’s concentration of power; the crisis risks long-term organisational realignment, affects grassroots workers who depend on party structures, and could shape events around the rival July 21 observances.