The Loyal Opposition: West Bengal, Its Post-Poll Politics

The clash in the West Bengal assembly elections has thrown the Trinamool Congress (TMC) into a tailspin. TMC rebel Ritabrata Banerjee has been formally recognized as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the legislature after claiming the support of 58 of the party’s 80 MLAs. Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s national general secretary and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, wrote to the speaker that he named veteran Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the LoP. Ritabrata Banerjee challenged the decision with some encouragement and support from the ruling BJP. The TMC had earlier expelled Ritabrat Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, both TMC MLAs, charging them with anti-party activities after they complained to the Speaker that their signatures on Abhishek Banerjee’s letter had been forged. The assembly officials found discrepancies between the signatures on the submitted documents and the signatures recorded during the oath-taking of the newly elected MLAs and the government ordered a CID probe. Ritabrata Banerjee framed her elevation as the LoP as a “collective fight against individualism”, bluntly asserted that the backlash was directed against Abhishek Banerjee and pledged loyalty to Mamata Banerjee – at least for public consumption. TMC functionaries are leaving the party in large numbers even as its workers and leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, continue to face physical violence.

After being in power for three consecutive terms, the TMC has long been in the process of collapsing due to corruption, authoritarian rule, suppression of dissent and violence against women. While all this has steadily eroded public confidence in both the administration and the party, Abhishek Banerjee’s expanding role has alienated a generation of senior leaders who built the party from the ground up. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari — the BJP’s first in the state — was once among Mamata Banerjee’s most trusted lieutenants. He resented the rise of his nephew and was also vulnerable to pressure from central agencies investigating serious corruption cases against him. The TMC had no qualms about using state resources, local administration and the police machinery for its power, but it could not resist the BJP, which is willing to stretch the rules of the game even further. In a TMC versus TMC battle, there will be a protracted legal tussle over the status of the two groups claiming to be the legitimate TMC. The episode also highlights West Bengal’s decades-long toxic political culture of violence and opportunism. The new LoP was formerly a Marxist leader who defected to the TMC. The BJP has openly stated that several newly elected TMC MLAs wanted to join the party. Instead, they seem to have captured the TMC in the Assembly – a rather odd case of political consensus.

Published – June 6, 2026 0:20 AM IST