Trinamool Congress overhaul: Old-timers in, Abhishek Banerjee loyalists dropped

4 min readKolkataJun 6, 2026 05:40 AM IST

The TMC chief is set to visit Delhi on June 8 for INDIA bloc meeting

Besieged by rebellions — first by the newly elected MLAs and followed by growing murmurs of an imminent split among her MPs — Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, in a desperate bid to keep her flock together, on Friday announced a major organisational reshuffle in the party, packing it with loyalists and old-timers.

While Mamata has retained nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the party’s national general secretary despite widespread criticism, she has appointed two joint national secretaries – Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen – to assist him, signalling to the rebels that the decision will be taken jointly and not unilaterally by Abhishek.

The announcement was made after the national working committee meeting of the party, which, according to sources, was attended by a handful of leaders at the TMC chief’s Kalighat residence in Kolkata.

The reshuffle comes two days after 60 of the newly elected 80 TMC MLAs defied Mamata Banerjee and party number two Abhishek Banerjee to choose expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

Explained

Exclusion that stands out

The name of Firhad Hakim, one of the TMC’s most recognisable minority faces and among party chief Mamata Banerjee's longest-serving lieutenants, is missing from the list. Hakim’s omission came hours after he stepped down as Kolkata Mayor, saying he “cannot continue occupying the chair and disrespect its dignity”. The development is likely to trigger fresh speculation about his equation with the leadership at a time when the party is navigating its most turbulent phase.

Within minutes of it, TMC leadership dissolved all the party committees and frontal organisations and, in a statement, said it would carry out a “comprehensive exercise of introspection, performance review and organisational assessment at every level”.

The party has also reconstituted its West Bengal unit by replacing incumbent state chief Subrata Bakshi with former minister and Mamata loyalist Chandrima Bhattacharya. Bakshi, on the other hand, has been appointed vice-president in the party’s National Working Committee. Also, Sajda Ahmed, Mamata Thakur, Nayana Bandyopadhyay, and Swati Khandekar have been appointed state vice presidents, while Aroop Biswas, Rajib Banerjee, Babar Ali, Pulak Roy, and Ashima Patra have been appointed as state general secretaries. The state unit’s executive members will include Jyotipriyo Mullick, Rana Chatterjee, Bidesh Bose, Trinankur Bhattacharjee, Jaya Dutta, Tapas Chatterjee, Vasundhara Goswamy and Goutam Deb.

Among the frontal organisations, actor-turned MP Sayoni Ghosh has been retained as president of Trinamool Youth Congress, while Mala Roy has been appointed president of the party’s women wing. According to the TMC sources, more names will be added later to this list.

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The party’s restructuring was announced a day after Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said while the party may be “safe” in the Upper House, the same could not be said of the Lok Sabha. “I have never seen around 60 MLAs leave in such a short span of time. What I am saying is that a similar reaction is likely in the Lok Sabha too.”

A senior TMC MP said, “A break in the parliamentary party is now just a matter of time. Already, we have heard that around 20 MPs are in contact with the BJP. This number will increase.”

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