Ex-TMC leader claims 20 MPs sent letter to BJP, warns: ‘Assembly Dhurandhar 1, Parliament will be Dhurandhar 2’

Suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Riju Dutta claimed on Thursday that around 20 MPs submitted an application form to the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) office. "But the BJP is not accepting them," he told ANI while citing sources.

"According to my sources, a short list of nine MPs has been made...," Riju Dutta said as the internal rift within the TMC continues to widen.

Mamata Banerjee's TMC is witnessing what's being called the biggest "split" within the party, led by expelled MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha.

Dutta, however, assured that "whatever faction has split in the legislative party is still with the TMC. They have not formed any new party..."

He said, "Even today, the TMC has 42 MPs and 80 MLAs. When Didi [Mamata Banerjee] herself sat on the protest, there were four MPs and seven MLAs with her. When the Chief Minister called an administrative meeting, there were 20 MLAs there..."

"We have raised issues many times, but what do we do... No one wants to associate with that party...," Dutta added.

"There are some leaders who are loyal to Mamata didi, and they are loyal only to Mamata didi and no other political leader. Except Mamata didi, everyone else is tarred with the same brush," Dutta told ANI.

The expelled leader also warned, “Dhurandhar Part-1 is the Bengal Assembly, and Dhurandhar Part-2 will be Parliament.”

Following this, TMC high command retaliated with a scorched-earth administrative order on social media platform X, dissolving every single party committee and frontal organisation across West Bengal with immediate effect under the guise of an "introspection and performance review."

According to ANI, the architects of the rebellion have executed a highly strategic manoeuvre: they are viciously amputating Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee from the party structure while maintaining a public posture of absolute loyalty to party matriarch Mamata Banerjee.

The loyalist rump, left with just over 20 undisputed MLAs, fielded senior leader Kunal Ghosh to mount a fierce defence of the party's traditional command structure. Ghosh labelled the breakaway faction's legal manoeuvres “impossible.”

Challenging the rebels' claim of independence, TMC leader Mahua Moitra stated they cannot simply claim they are free. She dared them to resign from their seats and fight elections fresh under what she mockingly termed the "Bijemool" symbol.