How Eknath Shinde Snatched Shiv Sena Same Way TMC Has Been Snatched By Rebel Trinamool To Oust Mamata Banerjee And Suspend Abhishek
The political landscape of West Bengal has been rocked by an unprecedented institutional coup that mirrors the exact strategy used in Maharashtra to capture a regional party. In a dramatic special session organized at a hotel in New Town, Kolkata, the rebel faction operating under the banner of the real Trinamool Congress executed a flawless administrative takeover. Led by Ritabrata Banerjee, who was recently recognized as the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, the dissident group formally removed party founder Mamata Banerjee from her long-held position as chairperson. Simultaneously, the faction announced the formal suspension of her nephew and national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, from the organization. To consolidate their power and establish legal legitimacy, the rebels unveiled a brand new 30-member national working committee, installing veteran leader Arup Roy as the new chairperson. This highly coordinated maneuver was openly supported by 60 Members of the Legislative Assembly and 70 influential councillors from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, dealing a catastrophic blow to the traditional command structure of the ruling family.
The internal restructuring has introduced a completely new leadership hierarchy that reward those who chose to challenge the status quo while expanding the footprint of the rebellion. Senior politicians including Firhad Hakim, Rathin Ghosh, and Sabina Yasmin were officially appointed as the vice-chairpersons of the reconstituted rebel organization. In a highly strategic move, Aroop Biswas was also accommodated into this new executive structure as a vice-chairperson, making him the only individual among the 4 designated deputies who managed to secure a premium leadership position despite recently losing his assembly seat in the state polls. The rebel camp defended the validity of this massive overhaul by pointing out a severe constitutional crisis within the party framework. Ritabrata Banerjee explained that according to Article 20 of the official party constitution, a fresh national working committee must be democratically formed every 3 years. Since the last authorized panel was formed back on February 12, 2022, its legal tenure had naturally expired on February 11 of this year, rendering the previous leadership structure completely invalid and necessitating an immediate intervention.
An objective analysis of these fast-moving events indicates that this rebellion is a highly calculated, legally backed operation heavily inspired by the Eknath Shinde playbook. By securing the open allegiance of nearly 60 out of the 80 total party legislators, the Ritabrata faction has successfully breached the critical 2-thirds majority mark required to insulate themselves from the penalties of the anti-defection law. The group has already launched an aggressive offensive to choke the financial resources of the parent organization, with Aroop Biswas moving swiftly to freeze a primary corporate bank account holding an estimated 675 crore rupees at a private bank branch in South Kolkata. Just as the Shinde faction slowly stripped away the institutional identity of Uddhav Thackeray by claiming the majority of elected representatives, the real Trinamool camp is methodically detaching the organizational assets, legislative status, and monetary reserves away from the founding family. This leaves the traditional leadership with diminishing institutional recourse and an uphill battle to protect their historical identity.
The political trajectory of the state now heads toward an aggressive legal and grassroots war as both factions fight for absolute survival. The Mamata Banerjee camp has retaliated sharply by issuing urgent show-cause notices to all dissident legislators who attended the New Town meeting, dismissing the parallel committee as completely illegal and unconstitutional. However, the rebel faction enjoys a strong position after the Calcutta High Court recently declined to stay the legislative speaker's decision to recognize Ritabrata Banerjee as the rightful Leader of the Opposition. With the rebel group planning an immediate petition to the Election Commission of India to claim ownership of the official party name and the twin flowers symbol, the institutional weight has shifted dramatically. The traditional leadership now faces the immense challenge of reclaiming its disillusioned grassroots workers, while the newly crowned real Trinamool command moves forward with state-wide restructuring to cement its status as the authentic voice of the organization.