Mamata Banerjee Made Her Party State President A Month Ago, Now She's With Rebels

On June 3, Mamata Banerjee elevated Chandrima Bhattacharya to the post of Trinamool Congress' West Bengal president. She replaced Subrata Bakshi after the party's debacle in the Assembly elections. Mamata Banerjee had dissolved all party committees and restructured the organisation on June 3 following the electoral setback against the BJP.

Just a month later, Chandrima Bhattacharya was seen sitting and smiling with the rebel camp in the Leader of Opposition's chamber in the Bengal Assembly.

"Where there is no faith, where there is no trust, it is not possible to work. That is why we resigned," she said after resigning from her posts.

Soon after sending her resignation letter from all party posts, Bhattacharya walked into the room of rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee, who had started the mutiny against Mamata Banerjee and is now the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

In her resignation letter on Saturday, Bhattacharya said she was quitting all party posts and also stepping down as the Trinamool Congress' authorised person before the Election Commission of India. Mamata Banerjee is fighting to retain her party's name and symbol and has petitioned the poll panel against the rebels' claim of being the "real" Trinamool.

Bhattacharya was long known as one of Mamata Banerjee's closest aides and held several important portfolios in the Trinamool government, including finance, health, and panchayat and rural development.

Bhattacharya's switch came weeks after another Mamata Banerjee confidante, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, led the rebellion of party MPs against the TMC chief. Dastidar was removed as Chief Whip of the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha by Mamata Banerjee in mid-May after the election results, and Kalyan Banerjee was assigned the role, which miffed Dastidar.

Bhattacharya's move is similar to that of party MP Sayoni Ghosh, who also joined the rebel camp within days of being reinstated as chief of the Trinamool Congress' youth wing by Mamata Banerjee. The Jadavpur MP was then removed from her position and replaced with Arnab Banerjee, a youth leader.

In a stinging retort to Bhattacharya's move, Mamata Banerjee camp MLA Kunal Ghosh asked why she did not resign "when she enjoyed plum portfolios given by Mamata Banerjee during her government".

The Trinamool Congress is facing an existential crisis as it has been hit by a stunning rebellion within its ranks since the Assembly election debacle. While a majority of its 80 MLAs have broken away and formed a separate group led by Ritabrata Banerjee, 20 of the party's MPs have also revolted and declared support for the NDA after merging with a little-known party, NCPI.