The number that could split Trinamool Congress

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s 19-MP Gamble Against Mamata Banerjee. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar keeps returning to the same figure: nearly 20 MPs stand with her in open revolt against Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee. The number that actually decides the rebels’ fate, however, is 19. On June 8, the four-time Barasat MP and former TMC chief whip led a dramatic breakaway in the Lok Sabha.

She claimed that 20 TMC MPs, including herself, had signed a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking recognition as a separate parliamentary bloc. The group declared it would extend support to the BJP-led NDA while remaining formally outside it, citing lawlessness, misgovernance and unemployment in West Bengal. Eighteen MPs signed physically; two did so online. The rebels have resigned from all party posts and insist they are not defecting but reforming from within to “work for Bengal’s development in conjunction with the Centre and State Government.”

The arithmetic is everything in the lower house of the parliament. TMC holds 28 seats in the Lok Sabha (one vacancy after the death of a sitting MP). Under the anti-defection law’s 10th Schedule, a breakaway faction needs the support of at least two-thirds of the party’s strength in the House to merge with another party or function as a separate group without facing disqualification. For 28 MPs, the threshold is at least 19. Fall short, and the rebels lose their seats. If they muster the numbers, cross it, and keep both their mandates and their leverage.

The rebellion is the sharpest challenge to the TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has ever faced in the party’s 28-year history. It unfolded barely a month after TMC’s crushing defeat in the May 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, where the party was reduced to just 80 seats against the BJP’s landslide majority of 207 seats.

A parallel revolt is already underway in the state legislature, led by expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee. In Delhi, at least 14 rebel MPs were seen meeting Union Minister Bhupender Yadav and West Bengal BJP Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Dastidar, a doctor-turned-politician and once one of Mamata’s most trusted lieutenants, has framed the uprising as ideological rather than personal. “We are against the misgovernance of the past few years,” she told reporters.

She has also asserted that she remains the Lok Sabha chief whip until the Speaker rules otherwise. The Mamata camp is fighting back hard. Party sources insist the rebel count is inflated, closer to 12, and accuse the BJP of engineering the split. Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s national general secretary, and Mamata herself were in Delhi attending an INDIA bloc meeting when the letter reached the Speaker’s office. Loyalists have dismissed the move as ‘rubbish’ and demanded the rebels “reveal the 20 names.” Legal and procedural questions now loom large. The Speaker must decide on the separate seating request and the validity of the signatures.

Political pundits said that if the 19-MP threshold is met, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC risks losing its status as a recognised party in the Lok Sabha and could face a fresh battle over its name and symbol. As of Tuesday, the high-voltage political drama is still unfolding. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s open revolt has turned a post-poll sulk into a full-blown parliamentary crisis and even threatened the very existence of the TMC.

Whether 19 MPs ultimately stand firm will decide not just the rebels’ survival but the future shape of Trinamool Congress and the politics of West Bengal.

TMC leaders criticise rebel party MPs

New Delhi: On Tuesday, Trinamool Congress leaders Kalyan Banerjee and Kirti Azad criticised rebel party MPs, accusing them of lacking political ethics, keeping ties with the BJP, and abandoning party workers facing harassment and political attacks.

Banerjee said the TMC called the meeting after dissident MPs claimed support from most Lok Sabha members and planned to be recognised as a separate group. He asked why they were not joining the BJP if they had the support they claimed to have, adding that the BJP would not accept them.

On Monday, Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, a leader of a rebel group, said they planned to write to Speaker Om Birla to express support for the NDA. She claimed 20 party MPs had agreed to write. Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy resigned from the Upper House after making allegations against the party. Banerjee said rebel MPs should do the same if they had grievances.

Banerjee said Sukhendu Sekhar Roy had resigned from the Rajya Sabha after making allegations against the party, and urged others making similar allegations to resign as MPs and show political morality. He questioned whether a letter from the dissident group was genuine, noting that such an important document had not been shared publicly. He asked why it was not made public or given to the press, alleging the exercise lacked transparency.

Banerjee said the rebel leaders were working closely with the BJP.

The two leaders pointed out that rebel MPs met Union minister Bhupender Yadav, with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari present, saying this showed they were with the BJP. On Monday, while TMC leader Mamata Banerjee, national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and several senior MPs attended a meeting of the INDIA bloc leaders.

Some dissident TMC MPs met at Union minister Yadav’s home, where Adhikari was also present. Banerjee said, “They may make some jugglery of words, but people are not fools. They have changed their leader from Mamata Banerjee to Narendra Modi.”

Banerjee again asked why the dissident MPs were not officially joining the BJP if they had as much support as they said.

He said the reason was simple: the BJP would not take them. Rebel MPs should meet party workers in their constituencies rather than make claims from Delhi.

“I will invite every MP to go to the constituency, sit with TMC workers and face them,” he said.

Banerjee alleged that there was widespread political repression in West Bengal and claimed that the administration was harassing opposition workers and leaders.

Banerjee alleged that democracy had gone in West Bengal and that 10,000 people had been arrested within one month, leaving leaders and workers unable to remain in their homes. He said the TMC’s duty was to stand by workers who are harassed and denied the right to take to the streets. Instead, he said, they are joining the BJP. “We are happy; these double character people have left,” he added.

Banerjee also claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah had contacted TMC MP Yusuf Pathan.

Banerjee said he had talked to him. He said Yusuf Pathan told him Amit Shah had called and that he was coming to Delhi to meet him. Banerjee charged that Amit Shah was working to break the party and said there was a broader effort to weaken opposition parties, while adding that dissent should be allowed in a parliamentary democracy.

Banerjee also doubted the rebel group’s claim that they had the support of 20 MPs. He asked why they were not showing the letter or naming the MPs, and emphasised that the party would not be affected by defections, saying, “The leader is Mamata. Symbol is the TMC symbol. Even if they’re more than 20, it’s not a problem.”