Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
“There is growing dissatisfaction among many TMC leaders and legislators. The developments indicate that the party is heading towards a split, similar to what happened in Maharashtra,” BJP MLA Tapas Roy said while commenting on what is being described as the biggest crisis to hit the Trinamool Congress since it was founded by Mamata Banerjee in 1998. At the centre of the crisis is Ritabrata Banerjee, a former blue-eyed boy of the Left Front.
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Ritabrata was expelled from CPI(M) in 2017 for anti-party activities and joined the TMC. Now, he has been expelled from the party by the TMC brass for alleged anti-party activities.
On Wednesday, Ritabrata reached the West Bengal Assembly claiming support from at least 60 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs. The rebel MLAs are demanding that Ritabrata be made the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly. If the claim holds, the rebel faction might have enough numbers to tide over the anti-defection law, and stake a claim to the TMC and its symbol.
The situation has drawn comparisons with the 2022 rebellion in the Shiv Sena, when more than 40 legislators led by Eknath Shinde broke away from Uddhav Thackeray. The unified Shiv Sena had 55 MLAs back then. Ritabrata, who, along with another expelled MLA, Sandipan Saha, is leading the TMC rebellion, is being referred to as Bengal’s Eknath Shinde. The Maharashtra leader is now heading the official Shiv Sena and has the party’s bow and arrow election symbol.
But who is Ritabrata Banerjee, and how has been his political journey?
WHO IS RITABRATA? SFI LEADER TO TRINAMOOL RAJYA SABHA MP
Ritabrata Banerjee’s political journey has been anything but conventional. He began his career in the Left movement and rose rapidly through the ranks, from a student activist in the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) to a Rajya Sabha MP representing the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Once regarded as the party’s blue-eyed boy, Ritabrata’s standing within the Left eventually declined, culminating in his expulsion in 2017.
His political fortunes revived soon after he joined the All India Trinamool Congress. Within the TMC, he again climbed the ranks, first heading the party’s trade union wing and later being nominated for a Rajya Sabha berth.
In 2026, Ritabrata survived the BJP wave that swept through the West Bengal Assembly elections by winning the Uluberia Purba constituency.
Now, he appears to be attempting within the TMC what Shinde achieved in Maharashtra—mobilising a large section of legislators against the party leadership and threatening a split in one of Bengal’s most dominant political forces.
RITABRATA BANERJEE’S RISE AND FALL IN THE CPI(M)
Ritabrata Banerjee began his political journey in the mid-1990s as a student activist of the SFI, the student wing of the CPI(M). He rose swiftly through the student ranks, gaining prominence as the general secretary of the Asutosh College student union before eventually climbing to the national stage.
By 2008, his organising capabilities earned him the position of All-India General Secretary of the SFI, cementing his status as one of the party’s most promising young faces in West Bengal.
Recognising his sharp oratorical skills and growing youth following, the CPI(M) leadership fast-tracked his entry into mainstream politics. In 2011, he was chosen to contest the high-profile Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha by-election vacated by Mamata Banerjee.
Though he lost that election, the party further demonstrated its immense trust in his potential by nominating him to the Rajya Sabha, the House of Elders, in 2014 when he was all of 34.
The Left’s blue-eyed boy, however, would soon break away from the CPI(M) in 2017.
Controversy first erupted when party supporters questioned his “lavish lifestyle” on social media after he was photographed wearing an Apple Watch and using a Montblanc pen, luxury accessories that clashed deeply with the CPI(M)’s communist ideology.
The friction turned into an open war after Ritabrata publicly lashed out against a state-ordered inquiry commission and gave a televised interview denigrating senior leaders like Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat. Consequently, the CPI(M) Politburo approved his summary expulsion from the party’s primary membership in September 2017.
Not making things any easier for him, a research scholar accused Ritabrata of rape that year, alleging that he had exploited her on the false promise of marriage. The MP accused the woman of blackmail and extortion. Meanwhile, visuals from a personal video call of him also went viral and the once young, dynamic leader became a castaway.
RITABRATA BANERJEE’S RISE IN THE TMC
Ritabrata Banerjee joined the Trinamool Congress around 2018 after his expulsion from the CPI(M). He initially served as the convener of the party’s tribal welfare committee and quickly rose to become the state president of the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC), the labour wing of the TMC.
During his time in the TMC, Banerjee maintained a relatively low-profile but a steady presence. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the TMC in December 2024 and served until April 2026.
He was projected as a key face for the 2026 Assembly elections and won convincingly from the Uluberia Purba seat in Howrah district even as a BJP wave reduced the TMC tally from 215 in 2021 to just 80 seats.
Within the party, he was perceived as a capable leader who frequently earned praise from the top brass, particularly for his ability to connect with trade unions and the traditional Left-leaning voter base that the TMC had been courting.
“Ritabrata Banerjee has invested in strengthening the organisation and advocating for trade union workers across WB. While it may take time, commitment, performance and hard work are always rewarded in the end,” TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee had tweeted during Ritabrata’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha.
It is the same Abhishek against whom Ritabrata is waging a war now. The rebel faction said Mamata Banerjee was still their leader, but blamed her nephew Abhishek for the party’s electoral debacle.
Even earlier this year, Ritabrata appeared loyal to party supremo Mamata Banerjee and the party high command. He had even described the party supremo as “the real Leftist leader.”
RITABRATA BANERJEE’S REBELLION AGAINST TMC LEADERSHIP
Ritabrata Banerjee’s open defiance began in the wake of the TMC’s historic defeat in this year’s West Bengal Assembly elections.
After winning the Uluberia Purba seat, Ritabrata became increasingly vocal about his dissatisfaction with the party’s internal functioning. He targeted Abhishek Banerjee’s leadership style and the party’s over-reliance on the political consultancy firm I-PAC, echoing complaints from other leaders like Kakoli Ghosh Dasgupta. Ritabrata claimed the party had been “hijacked” and no longer belonged to its roots.
The first visible sign of fracture appeared when Ritabrata and Sandipan Saha met BJP leader and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Friction escalated rapidly after Ritabrata and Saha filed a formal complaint with the Assembly Speaker, alleging that their signatures had been forged on a TMC resolution appointing Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition. They maintained they had only signed a general attendance sheet.
On Monday, CM Suvendu Adhikari publicly announced that a forgery complaint had been filed by the two. In a press conference that day, Adhikari alleged that the TMC “cheated its own MLAs”.
“The CID went to speak to 13 of the 14 MLAs whose signatures were in block letters. Three of these MLAs admitted on camera that they had not signed the resolution,” Suvendu said. Within minutes of Adhikari’s claim, the TMC leadership expelled both Ritabrata and Sandipan for anti-party activities. Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh condemned the duo, while Mamata Banerjee labelled Ritabrata a “betrayer”.
The rift has since expanded into a rebellion that could potentially split the party. Ritabrata and Sandipan have held meetings with disgruntled legislators at a Kolkata hotel and an MLA hostel. The rebel faction claims the backing of 60 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs, surpassing the two-thirds threshold (53 MLAs) required to bypass the anti-defection law and potentially claim the party’s official name and symbol.
With the rebels positioning Ritabrata as their choice for the LoP, the parallels with an Eknath Shinde-style coup are hard to miss. Just as Shinde broke away and eventually secured control of the Shiv Sena’s name and symbol, Ritabrata’s faction is seeking to establish itself as the legitimate successor to the Trinamool Congress, laying claim to the party’s organisation, political legacy, and iconic twin-flower symbol.
However, Ritabrata is being careful by offering Mamata Banerjee the role of the titular head to avoid the ignominy of taking over control of a party formed by her. Despite losing power and her own Bhabanipur constituency, Mamata remains one of the few, if not the only, Trinamool leaders to retain a substantial popular following after the party’s electoral debacle. Ritabrata appears keen not to alienate that support base by being perceived as turning against the party’s founder. In any case, Mamata has little option but to accept Ritabrata’s offer. The alternative is to watch the party she built from the ground up since 1998 slip from her grasp.
Whatever the outcome, it marks the latest twist in Ritabrata’s roller-coaster political journey. Once hailed as the Left’s blue-eyed boy, he was later forced out of the CPI(M) in disgrace. He subsequently rebuilt his career within the TMC and has now emerged at the centre of the greatest crisis the party has faced since its founding in 1998. That’s Ritabrata Banerjee for you.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
