Mamata Banerjee dissolves all Trinamool Congress committees

Amid ongoing instability in West Bengal's political arena, Mamata Banerjee has taken a major organisational step, dissolving all committees and frontal organisations of the Trinamool Congress following internal discord, questions over leadership and discontent among MLAs.

In a post on X on Wednesday, June 3, the party announced that after in-depth review, all committees and branch organisations of the All India Trinamool Congress in West Bengal have been dissolved with immediate effect.

As a result, there will be no organisational office-bearers of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, effectively dismantling the party's formal grassroots structure.

The crisis has been unfolding over recent days. On May 31, Mamata called a meeting of party MLAs at her Kalighat residence, but only 17 out of 80 MLAs attended. The meeting effectively collapsed due to lack of attendance.

On June 2, Mamata staged a sit-in at the Y-Channel in Kolkata with only eight MLAs and six MPs, none of whom stayed for the entire duration.

The situation came to a head on Wednesday when 58 MLAs appeared in the Assembly, demanding that expelled Uluberia East MLA Ritabrata Banerjee be made Leader of the Opposition. They submitted a letter to Speaker Rathindra Bose, claiming that 58 out of 80 TMC MLAs were with them, and that they are the real Trinamool Congress.

The letter was signed by MLAs including Sabina Yasmin, Kanaiyalal Agarwal, Rathin Ghosh, Shiuli Saha and Akhruzzaman. The MLAs said they disagreed with the current leadership's decisions and openly criticised them.

On Wednesday, the 58 MLAs declared themselves the new Trinamool Congress, claiming they should be recognised as the opposition in the Assembly, not the party founded by Mamata in 1998. They proposed Ritabrata Banerjee as their choice for Leader of the Opposition.

However, in a dramatic twist, the letter to the Speaker reportedly still mentioned Mamata Banerjee as the party's chairperson. The Speaker has sought time to review the matter and has not yet commented.

The new faction has also proposed four names as deputy leaders of the opposition. Whether the Assembly will approve the proposal remains uncertain.