The Trinamool Congress (TMC) faced its biggest internal crisis on Wednesday after 58 rebel MLAs extended support to expelled party leader Ritabrata Banerjee and informed the West Bengal Assembly Speaker about their decision. In a swift response, the Mamata Banerjee-led camp dissolved all party committees and frontal organisations across the state, highlighting the growing power struggle within the party.

The developments mark the most serious challenge to the TMC's unity since its formation. The rebellion has raised questions about who controls the party's legislative wing and organisational structure. It has also created uncertainty over the future direction of the party following its heavy defeat in the recent Assembly elections.

The dissident group is being led by Ritabrata Banerjee and fellow MLA Sandipan Saha, who was also expelled from the party. The group submitted letters signed by 58 MLAs to Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose. Under the anti-defection law, at least two-thirds of the legislators in a party must support a breakaway faction to avoid disqualification. Since the TMC currently has 80 MLAs in the Assembly, the required number is 54. The rebel camp has crossed that mark.

The dissident MLAs proposed Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the legislature party. They also proposed Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha and Shiuli Saha as deputy leaders. Raghunathganj MLA Akhruzzaman was nominated as the chief whip.

Several senior TMC leaders joined the rebel camp. These included Samar Mukhopadhyay, Arup Roy, Rathin Ghosh, Javed Khan and Prasun Banerjee. Other MLAs present in the Assembly during the show of strength included Sabina Yasmin, Samir Panja, Golam Rabbani, Imani Biswas, Hamidur Rahaman, Dinen Roy, Chandranath Sinha, Riaz Hossain, Gulshan Mallik, Piya Pal, Surajit Mitra, Usharani Mondal and Abdul Aziz.

The move has put the Mamata Banerjee camp in a difficult position as it could lose effective control over the legislature party. However, the rebels have not challenged Mamata Banerjee's position as the party chief.

In their communication to the Speaker, the dissidents continued to recognise Mamata Banerjee as the chairperson of the TMC. At the same time, they made it clear that they no longer accepted the authority of her nephew Abhishek Banerjee in matters related to the legislature party.

A leader associated with the dissident camp said, "A new Trinamool takes shape. Ritabrata Banerjee named Leader of Opposition. Akhruzzaman as chief whip. Sixty-four victorious TMC MLAs are with us. We accept Mamata Banerjee as our leader, but do not accept Abhishek Banerjee."

Earlier in the day, Ritabrata Banerjee said, "The TMC has expelled me, but I believe that I am still with the party. If the MLAs are listening to me, then I am very powerful."

Soon after the rebel camp's move, the TMC announced the dissolution of all organisational committees in West Bengal and all its frontal organisations. In a statement posted on X, the party said, "After careful consideration, it has been decided that all committees of the All India Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, as well as all its frontal organisations, shall stand dissolved with immediate effect."

The statement further said that the party would carry out a "comprehensive exercise of introspection, performance review and organisational assessment at every level". Following this process, the organisational structure of the party would be rebuilt.

The developments are significant because Ritabrata Banerjee previously served as the state president of the TMC's trade union wing, while Abhishek Banerjee is the party's national general secretary.

The political situation has drawn comparisons with the Maharashtra crisis in which Eknath Shinde led a revolt within the Shiv Sena and gained the support of a majority of MLAs. That rebellion eventually led to control of the legislative wing shifting away from the original party leadership. Observers have also compared the situation to the split in the Nationalist Congress Party in 2023 when Ajit Pawar broke away from Sharad Pawar's camp with the backing of most legislators. The Election Commission later recognised Ajit Pawar's faction as the real NCP and granted it the party name and symbol.

For Mamata Banerjee, the challenge goes beyond retaining the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, a position that requires the support of only 30 MLAs. The bigger concern is maintaining political authority over the legislature party.

Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said differences could have been resolved within the party and accused the dissidents of "backstabbing" the organisation at a difficult moment.

The BJP was quick to react to the political developments. BJP IT department head Amit Malviya posted on X, "Mamata Banerjee thought she could become prime minister by abusing Prime Minister Modi. A month ago, she was the chief minister of West Bengal. In the elections, the people of West Bengal rejected her. Today, even her party members and MLAs have rejected her. She has lost control of the legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly. And this is just the beginning. She will have to account for the blood on her hands."

The rebellion has now opened a new chapter in West Bengal politics. While Mamata Banerjee remains the party's undisputed chief, the battle over control of the TMC's legislative wing has become the biggest test of her political leadership in recent years.