20 TMC MPs Seek BJP Alliance After West Bengal Loss, Deepening Mamata Banerjee's Crisis
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jun 8
20 TMC MPs Seek BJP Alliance After West Bengal Loss, Deepening Mamata Banerjee's Crisis
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 8
Summary
Twenty of Trinamool Congress's 28 MPs have reportedly written to parliament's speaker seeking to leave the party's bloc and back the BJP-led ruling alliance, turning a state-level setback into a national leadership crisis.
The move follows West Bengal's election defeat a month ago, when the BJP ended TMC's 15-year rule and Mamata Banerjee lost her own seat, weakening both the party's access to patronage and her aura of invincibility.
Roughly three-quarters of TMC's 80 state legislators have already rebelled, seized control of the legislative wing and installed their own opposition leader, while the party's local machinery has visibly frayed.
Analysts say the speed of the collapse reflects a patronage-heavy, family-centric structure that held while TMC governed but became vulnerable once power shifted to a nationally dominant BJP offering protection and resources to defectors.
Banerjee, 71, has called the BJP victory "illegal" and the rebellion opportunistic, but any comeback now appears to depend on rebuilding party organisation rather than relying on charisma alone.