For the first time since the TMC was founded by Mamata Banerjee in 1998, a rebel faction on Monday "replaced" her as the party chairperson and elected senior MLA Arup Roy to the post, while unveiling a parallel leadership structure and taking the battle for control of the party from the legislature into its organisational core.
At a special session here, the faction led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee constituted a new national leadership hierarchy, directly challenging the authority of Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the party's national general secretary.
While the TMC's twin-flower symbol remained prominently displayed, portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and B R Ambedkar adorned the stage. Notably absent were photographs of Mamata Banerjee, who has long been the principal face of the party.
Addressing the gathering, Ritabrata Banerjee claimed the party was facing a "constitutional crisis", arguing that Article 20 of the TMC constitution required the formation of a national working committee every three years.
According to the rebel camp, the last national working committee was constituted on February 12, 2022, and its tenure expired on February 11, 2026. Since no fresh committee was formed thereafter, the faction argued it became necessary to reconstitute the party's organisational structure.
The meeting first approved a 10-member national working committee comprising Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Biplab Mitra, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Sabina Yasmin, Sandipan Saha, Rathin Ghosh, Javed Khan and Ritabrata Banerjee, before expanding it into a 30-member body.
Former minister Biswas and MLAs Hakim, Ghosh and Yasmin were appointed vice-chairpersons. Ritabrata Banerjee, Khan and Saha were named general secretaries, while Akhruzzaman Ansari was appointed treasurer.
Seeking to bolster the legitimacy of the exercise, Banerjee asserted that the proceedings had been conducted in accordance with the party constitution and would be communicated to the Election Commission.
Instead, by constituting a fresh national working committee and appointing new general secretaries, the faction effectively displaced Abhishek Banerjee from the post of national general secretary under the previous organisational structure.
Similarly, the election of Arup Roy amounted to a rejection of the authority exercised by Mamata Banerjee as the party's founder-chairperson, though neither leader was mentioned by name during the proceedings.
Sources in the rebel camp claimed around 60 of the TMC's 80 MLAs attended or endorsed the session. They also said nearly 70 former councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and representatives from several districts participated.