TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee. File Image | Photo credit: PTI
Days after suffering a humiliating defeat by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, a section of Trinamool Congress leaders appear to be looking for a scapegoat, with many blaming political consultancy I-PAC for the debacle.
Trinamool Congress leader and Lok Sabha chief whip Kalyan Banerjee pointed out that dependence on I-PAC cost the party this election. “I-PAC has completely destroyed the Trinamool Congress organisation. Abhishek’s (party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee) full dependence on I-PAC was not accepted,” Mr Banerjee said in an interview with Anandbazar Online.
Trinamool Congress’ association with I-PAC began ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, when the firm was involved in shaping the party’s campaign. The Trinamool Congress, riding on a successful campaign in which Mamata Banerjee was a daughter of Bengal, won 215 seats in the 294-member assembly. I-PAC also helped the party win 29 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2024 general elections.
Riju Dutta, a former party spokesperson who was suspended recently, also blamed the consultancy firm for the defeat. “I-PAC has been running the party for the last six months. Didi (Mamata Banerjee) and Abhishek Banerjee should take responsibility,” Mr Dutta said.
Allegations against the firm include playing a key role in the selection of candidates and sabotaging the entire party organization. Trinamool leaders accuse corruption in ticket distribution.
While it is a fact that I-PAC and its associates gave feedback on the selection of candidates, all the power in the party was concentrated on Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. The I-PAC consists mainly of young associates in their twenties and early thirties working in the districts of the state who decided on campaign strategy and also served as the eyes and ears of the party’s top leadership in Kolkata.
It is not just Kalyan Banerjee and Riju Dutta, but several other leaders across districts, including former Rajganj MLA Khageswar Roy and Jalpiaguri leader Sourav Chakraborty, have also accused the I-PAC.
However, months ahead of the parliamentary polls, the entire party described Mamata Banerjee’s intervention during ED raids at the residence and office of I-PAC founder Pratik Jain as a “masterstroke”.
On January 6, Ms. Banerjee entered Mr. Jain’s residence and office while ED officials were conducting searches. She was supposed to have taken some documents during the raids. The ED later approached the Supreme Court over the matter.
The Trinamool leadership also denied reports of suspension of I-PAC operations during the height of the election campaign, despite most of its team members having stopped working for the party.
During the height of the campaign, the ED arrested I-PAC director Vinesh Chandel in Delhi in connection with an alleged money laundering case from West Bengal. A Delhi court granted him regular bail on April 30, a day after the state’s elections ended.
Trinamool’s defeat is the result of many factors, primary of which is anti-establishment, polarization of Hindu votes and division of Muslim votes. Political observers believe that Trinamool leaders, who want to stay in the party and cannot directly blame Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee for the loss, are instead putting all the blame on I-PAC.
Published – 10 May 2026 22:31 IST
