Ritabrata Banerjee, the MLA from Uluberia Purba, who was expelled by Trinamool Congress earlier this week, has now become the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly. This has come as a rude awakening for the ex-CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee who had expelled Ritabrata.
STORY | Bengal: 58 rebel TMC MLAs back expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee, party dissolves all committees
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 3, 2026
The rebellion within the TMC took a decisive turn on Wednesday, as 58 dissident MLAs backed legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, who has been expelled from the party, as the… pic.twitter.com/Jum2sWaciJ
With this, the split in TMC, which ruled Bengal for 15 years before losing in 2026, has become official. The future of the party is also under a cloud now. While party supremo is talking about removing BJP from the center, she is losing control of her own party on her home turf.
Earlier in the day, emphasising that they are the real TMC, Ritabrata Banerjee said that the TMC legislature party is a team of 58 MLAs who won on party symbol and two other MLAs are likely to join them. Notably, 80 MLAs won on TMC symbol during the recent assembly elections, while BJP romped home to victory with 208 seats.
Notably, Ritabrata Banerjee, along with fellow ex-TMC leader Sandipan Saha, was expelled from TMC for anti-party activities. Their expulsion came after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said in his press conference that these two MLAs had filed complaints of signature forgery in a party letter that endorsed Sovondeb Chattopadhay as the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly.
The West Bengal CID is currently probing these signature forgery charges levelled by the CM. Several Trinamool leaders have been served notices in the case.
