West Bengal Leader of Opposition and rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Ritabrata Banerjee leaves after a meeting with Election Commission officials regarding party representations, in New Delhi
| Photo Credit: ANI

Rebel Trinamool Congress leader and Cooch Behar MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia on Monday (September 14, 2026) claimed that 17 of the 20 Lok Sabha members aligned with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) will join the BJP before or after Durga Puja, a claim promptly disputed by fellow dissidents.

The BJP sought to distance itself from the claim, with its West Bengal unit chief Samik Bhattacharya saying the party would not take in anyone merely because they want to join it.

Mr. Basunia said 17 MPs have finalised plans to join the BJP together and the number would be sufficient to keep them outside the purview of the anti-defection law.

“We are 17 MPs who are going to the BJP together. Since more than two-thirds of the 20 members will be switching, the anti-defection law will not apply to us,” he told reporters.

Of the TMC’s 27 Lok Sabha MPs, 20 have joined the little-known NCPI and extended their support to the saffron party just after TMC’s defeat in the Assembly polls in May this year.

The TMC leadership, headed by Mamata Banerjee, has submitted an application to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and moved the Supreme Court as well, seeking their disqualification as MPs.

However, fellow rebel MP Satabdi Roy said Mr. Basunia had made the remarks in his personal capacity, and no such decision has been taken by the group so far.

Another rebel MP, Abu Taher Khan, who is also part of the NCPI group, said Mr. Basunia had no right to speak on behalf of all the MPs who had joined the outfit.

He also rejected Mr. Basunia’s claim that he, Jangipur MP Khalilur Rahaman and Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan would support the BJP-led NDA while staying outside the BJP. “We will not go to the BJP. We will not go to the NDA. This is clear,” Mr. Taher said, adding that Mr. Basunia’s statement was his personal view.

The parliamentarian from the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat said he and the two MPs could attend government meetings if invited by the Prime Minister or Chief Minister for development-related issues, but would not participate in BJP or NDA meetings.

Mr. Basunia had claimed the three MPs belonging to the minority community would not formally join the BJP because of the political dynamics in their constituencies, but would support the NDA from outside and could be given important responsibilities or portfolios.

The BJP, meanwhile, distanced itself from the claim.

West Bengal BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said he had no information about any such development and maintained that a person expressing a desire to join the BJP did not mean the party would automatically take him in.

Mr. Bhattacharya said the party would not take in anyone merely because they wanted to join, and questioned whether the BJP Mr. Basunia was referring to was “the BJP on Mars”.

“As far as I know, no one from the TMC or NCPI is joining the BJP. People of the State have not forgotten the kind of atrocities these leaders and MPs have done during the TMC regime,” he said.

On June 14, 20 dissident TMC Lok Sabha MPs announced their merger with the little-known NCPI and extended support to the BJP-led NDA. They subsequently sought recognition as a separate parliamentary group.

The rebel camp has maintained that the move constitutes a valid merger and has invoked the two-thirds provision under the anti-defection law. With 20 MPs in the group, at least 14 would be required to meet that threshold.

Mr. Basunia said the MPs had originally intended to move directly to the BJP but were brought into the NCPI after three minority MPs were unwilling to join.

The legal status of the group, however, remains contested. Lok Sabha records continue to list the 20 MPs as TMC members, and their claim for recognition as a separate NCPI group has not been finally settled.

TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee had approached the Supreme Court seeking expeditious disposal of his petition seeking disqualification of the 20 MPs under the anti-defection law.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat subsequently issued notices to the MPs on August 26, seeking their replies to the disqualification petitions. The MPs sought three weeks’ additional time, which was granted by Speaker Om Birla, with the revised deadline extending until September 22.

The Supreme Court has also issued notices to the 20 MPs in the matter.

Mr. Basunia and his wife, TMC MLA Sangeeta Roy, faced protests when they returned to his ancestral home in Sitai in Cooch Behar amid anger over his political shift. A TMC office near his residence was also allegedly set on fire.

Mr. Basunia has maintained that he is no longer with the TMC and is aligned with the NDA.

Published – September 14, 2026 05:18 pm IST

 The question is making rounds in the political circles: who will get the “ grass and twin-flowers’ symbol of Trinamool Congress in the upcoming by-elections. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee along with party MPs Kalyan Banerjee, Babul Supriyo and Dola Sen during the foundation day of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, in Kolkata, West Bengal, on August 28, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI

TMC MP Mahua Moitra.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the West Bengal Assembly poll in 2026, winning 207 of the 293 seats, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya made a bold political claim. “Our doors are closed for Trinamool. There will be no ‘Trinamoolification’ of the BJP,” Mr. Bhattacharya had said. The 62-year-old leader, who had been a foot soldier of the party when its vote share was in single digits in West Bengal was among the first to use the phrase, ‘Trinamoolification of the BJP’.

He didn’t know then that on the afternoon of July 9, he would be handing out lotus-insignia party flags to three former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs at the BJP office in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area. The three MPs were Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev, and Prakash Chik Baraik. They had been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Trinamool Congress, and had resigned after the party suffered an electoral setback in the Assembly poll. When in the Trinamool, they had publicly criticised the BJP.

Within hours of Mr. Bhattacharya welcoming the Trinamool leaders into the BJP fold, the party announced that the former Trinamool MPs were to be renominated to the Upper House with the support of newly elected BJP legislators. Mr. Bhattacharya tried to defend opening doors for the Trinamool leaders by saying that the decision was in national interest.

“Syama Prasad Mookerjee has taught us that the party is bigger than an individual, and the nation is bigger than the party,” he said, trying hard to say that inducting the three leaders into the party was an “exception”.

The Bengal BJP president who had spoken about the party’s doors being closed for Trinamool members, is now saying that those in the Trinamool who could not raise their voices in the party are now knocking on BJP doors and the party may consider opening its doors at an opportune moment.

Feeling the heat of the Trinamoolification

A month after this incident, Mr. Bhattacharya admits that the anger among the BJP rank and file was so much that those supporters who were singing his praises during the election are putting a garland of shoes around his photograph. “Usually the garland is made of old shoes, but I saw that the shoes were all new,” the BJP leader quipped. Several BJP leaders, such as State Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta, said they found it difficult to participate in the flag handing-over event.

To many, the Trinamoolification of the BJP started even before the party won the 2026 Assembly poll. Former West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, now a prominent Minister in the West Bengal government, took a swipe at Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari by saying that it was not new for Trinamool leaders to join the BJP. “Where is it written in the BJP that people from other parties cannot join. Our Chief Minister is also a former Trinamool (leader),” Mr. Ghosh said.

Mr. Ghosh’s reference to Mr. Adhikari points to the unease in BJP’s rank and file. Mr. Adhikari, once a key Trinamool leader and Minister in Mamata Banerjee’s government, defected to the BJP in December 2020. Mr. Adhikari, who defeated Mamata Banerjee twice at Nandigram in 2021 and Bhabanipur in 2026, was chosen to lead the BJP government in West Bengal, five years after joining the party.

Good TMC vs not-so-good TMC

After the defeat in the West Bengal Assembly poll in 2026, the Trinamool Congress has been torn apart by rebellion and desertions. The majority of Lok Sabha MPs and party MLAs decided to part ways with party chairperson Mamata Banerjee.

Despite being the beneficiaries of the Trinamool Congress’s politics, these MPs and MLAs have blamed the party chairperson for favouring her nephew Abhishek Banerjee and allowing corruption and misrule to persist.

Of the 28 Lok Sabha MPs of the Trinamool Congress, 20 have merged with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), and have become a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Of the 80 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress who were elected to the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly, 65 legislators decided to support the claim of Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition, against the writ of Mamata Banerjee. One of the reasons behind the rebellion of both the MPs and MLAs of the Trinamool Congress is the opportunity to cosy up to the BJP, the party in power both at the Centre and in the State.

The BJP leadership in West Bengal, which is perceived as being soft on the rebel MPs and MLAs, has come out with a theory of “bhalo (good) Trinamool”. The Lok Sabha MPs, who have decided to join the NDA, have allegedly been told that after delimitation, when the seats increase, so will their chances of returning to Parliament in 2029.

On August 4, Chief Minister Adhikari met the NCPI MPs in Delhi. He was joined by Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, who was election-in-charge of West Bengal, and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. If the photograph of Samik Bhattacharya handing over party flags to the three Rajya Sabha MPs created discomfort in the BJP’s rank and file, the Chief Minister’s photograph with the NCPI MPs was reason for heartburn.

The “good Trinamool” is the rebel camp led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee. Mr. Banerjee, who was a Communist Party of India (Marxist) nominee to Rajya Sabha, joined the Trinamool Congress in 2020 after the CPI(M) expelled him. The Trinamool Congress re-nominated him to Rajya Sabha for a second term in 2024. In 2026, he resigned from the Upper House to contest the Assembly poll from Uluberia Purba.

The rebel MLAs led by his camp are claiming to be the “original Trinamool” and have sought the party’s symbol from the Election Commission and laid claim to hundreds of crores of party funds.

After the change of regime, hundreds of local-level Trinamool Congress workers have been arrested by the police on charges of corruption, extortion, and electoral violence. Many were attacked with eggs when they were being taken into custody or being produced before courts. However, the MPs and MLAs of the “good Trinamool” have not faced police action after warming up to the BJP.

Among the handful of loyalists left by Mamata Banerjee’s side is Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh. After an under-construction warehouse collapsed in Kolkata’s Taratala area on June 24 burying 16 workers, Chief Minister Adhikari blamed it on the former Trinamool Congress regime.

Mr. Adhikari held up a document in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly with the signature of former mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim, and said no one would be spared. Ghosh dared the Chief Minister to act against Hakim to prove that the State government was serious about taking action against those responsible for the deaths. Hakim, who was one of the key Ministers during Mamata Banerjee’s regime, joined the Ritabrata Banerjee camp, and despite the Chief Minister blaming him for the tragedy, the only high-profile arrest was his former personal assistant.

The reverse ‘egg therapy’

With the majority of the Trinamool leaders now part of the “good Trinamool” camp, it is Mamata Banerjee and a handful of her loyalists who are being blamed by the BJP for they say was “misrule and corruption” over the past 15 years. The BJP government in West Bengal is yet to complete 100 days. It is already faced with something it had accused the Trinamool Congress leadership of over the past several years: extortion and political corruption.

In the past three months several businesses have alleged that BJP leaders have demanded money from them and they have had to reach out to the police seeking protection.

Sources in the BJP said that the party has suspended 22 functionaries, including several mandal presidents, over allegations of extortion and indiscipline.

Senior leaders of the BJP, including party president are warning its workers against extortion. While former State BJP president and Minister Dilip Ghosh said that many leaders are becoming addicted to this “honey of extortion”, the current State BJP chief has warned party members to mend their ways.

“The unwarranted egg therapy we see now (referring to Trinamool leaders being attacked with eggs) can turn on its head and start falling on the other side as well. Everyone, including those in my party, must understand that. Those ‘Sanatanis’ who have suddenly found a place in our party and are harbouring aspirations for influence and advantage must also remain careful because the trajectory of those eggs can change in no time,” Bhattacharya said.

It is the BJP workers in the districts who are most upset with Trinamool leaders warming up to the BJP, but only a few have mustered the courage to speak about it publicly. Nikhil Ranjan Dey, a former BJP MLA from Cooch Behar, came out in public against the nomination of the three former Trinamool Congress MPs to Rajya Sabha by his party.

“We do not know what our central leadership is thinking. They want to increase numbers in Parliament. But why will (former) Trinamool leaders be nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the BJP? Are there not enough qualified and educated people in the BJP?” the former MLA said.

Mr. Dey said that several BJP workers have suffered at the hands of the Trinamool Congress and are still languishing behind the bars after being booked under what he claims are false charges during the Trinamool Congress regime.

In fact, former Trinamool leaders had once even allegedly called for violence against BJP members. One such example is of former Trinamool Congress MP and actor Nushrat Jahan, who represented the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat from 2019 to 2024.

She was photographed with BJP leaders at an event to honour exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin. The photo went viral and was criticised by several right-wing online portals.

The portals highlighted how, before the election, the actor-turned-politician had been heard telling the electorate to beat up BJP leaders with bamboo sticks if they came seeking votes.

Personal versus the political

Sudip Bandyopadhay is an MP from the Kolkata North Lok Sabha seat. After parting ways with Mamata Banerjee, he is the senior-most MP of the NCPI, and is now holding meetings with the BJP leadership in the national capital.

While Mr. Bandyopadhay is meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adhikari, BJP’s Tapas Roy, now Minister of Industries and Commerce in the West Bengal government, is fuming. “I will never have anything to do with him. I hate him, because of what he did to me,” Mr. Roy said.

The Manicktala MLA left the Trinamool Congress and joined the BJP in 2024. That year, he lost the Lok Sabha polls to Mr. Bandyopadhay. Mr. Roy has publicly said that Mr. Bandyopadhay was the reason he had to quit the Trinamool Congress, and join the BJP. He claims that Mr. Bandyopadhay was behind a raid at his residence when he was with the Trinamool, a charge Mr. Bandyopadhay has vehemently denied.

The only thing that is keeping the 70-year-old BJP leader happy: “It is very comforting to see the Trinamool Congress crumbling.”

shivsahay.s@thehindu.co.in

Edited by Sunalini Mathew and Amarjot Kaur

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrests TMC councillor Shakir Ali in the 2023 Ram Navami violence case, in Hooghly. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari during his visit to SSKM Hospital to meet those injured in the Taratala warehouse shed collapse incident, in Kolkata on June 24, 2026. Photo: CMO/ANI Video Grab

In the list submitted by her loyalists, Mamata Banerjee remains the chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI