Mamata Banerjee said the Trinamool’s symbol would remain with the bloc loyal to her, indicating that the rebels might face a protracted legal battle.
Despite absorbing blow after blow following Trinamool Congress’s debacle in the West Bengal Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee remains defiant. After most of the party’s 80 MLAs formed a faction under Ritabrata Banerjee and its Lok Sabha MPs created a third bloc, kicking off the who’s-the-real-Trinamool Congress jostling, she has dared her political opponents, saying they would have to “kill” her to “stop” her.
The former West Bengal chief minister called the rebels “traitors” and insisted that the Trinamool’s symbol would remain with her and those loyal to her, indicating that the rebels might face a protracted legal battle. “The party symbol won’t go anywhere. If you want to stop me, you need to kill me,” she said.
The Trinamool Congress chief was dealt a fresh jolt on Saturday when Chandrima Bhattacharya, the party’s Bengal chief and one of the few bigwigs still loyal to her, resigned. The MLA was later seen with the faction spearheaded by Ritabrata Banerjee, the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, whose supporters wrested control of the party’s office in Kolkata on Friday.
“Chandrima Bhattacharya has resigned today. She had already informed me of the actual situation – that she would resign – because her son had previously joined hands with an anti-Trinamool faction,” Mamata Banerjee said.
The former chief minister, however, vowed she would never join the rebels, rejecting the latter’s offer of an advisory role.
“That is something she (Chandrima Banerjee) is free to do, but I will not join hands with them,” she said.
The Trinamool Congress chief claimed that the rebels had parted ways because of pressure. “But I will not bow down before the BJP, and my party will not bow down before any pressure,” she added.
Banerjee also addressed the issue of rebels taking control of the Trinamool office.
“To those who went to the Trinamool Congress office yesterday and locked it, I say this: we had rented that office. It was leased to us until October 2027. An individual may leave the party, but the institution itself does not cease to exist. It is the party’s property. I cannot simply take it over. No one can forcibly seize the property of ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’,” she said.
The former chief minister — who uprooted the Left from power after over three decades in 2011, effectively creating a political vacuum in the Opposition, later utilised by the BJP — said her party’s ideology is firmly against the ruling party.
“The symbol was given by me. I was the signatory for your nominations in the 2026 elections. How did you turn traitor within two months of the election? It should have some limit. You are with the BJP right now, which can’t go on like this, as the Trinamool’s ideology is anti-BJP,” she said.
Banerjee said that after Chandrima Banerjee’s exit, she has taken charge of the party on both the national and state levels.
She also announced that the party office at her house would serve as the main Trinamool office.
Trinamool Exodus
The exodus in the Trinamool Congress began after the party and Banerjee’s loss in the Bengal polls. The dissenting MLAs questioned her leadership style but indicated that their exit was more a referendum on her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee’s role in the party.
Over 60 MLAs and 20 Lok Sabha MPs have announced their separation from the Banerjee-led outfit.
Bhattcharya announced her resignation barely weeks after she was appointed the chief of the party’s Bengal unit.
