Months after the 15-year rule of Trinamool Congress (TMC) ended in West Bengal, the party is facing internal churn, with its supremo Mamata Banerjee navigating herself and the party through the fractured power structure and a rebel faction. At this juncture, a question arises: Will Banerjee be able to forgive party rebels? TMC MP Dola Sen hinted that it might be a possibility.
The components that seem to be a roadblock for Banerjee and TMC include the rebel faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee, who claims the support of over 60 of TMC's 80 MLAs, and a group of Lok Sabha MPs who have moved to the NCPI.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, MP Dola Sen addressed whether Mamata Banerjee would forgive leaders who exited during the crisis.
"By nature, she generally forgives everyone," Sen said, adding, "Rather, we are scared that she will forgive the traitors also, the renegades also."
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Mamata Banerjee and TMC's power in Bengal
{{/usCountry}}Also Read | Back to where it began? TMC crisis triggers talk of merger with Congress, the party Mamata had left in 90s
Mamata Banerjee and TMC's power in Bengal
{{/usCountry}}Mamata Banerjee uprooted the Left's 34 years of rule in West Bengal and came to power in 2011. Since then, the TMC was in power in the state, and for a decade and a half, the administration and party apparatus functioned as a single ecosystem.
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Calcutta HC's decision on Bengal LoP
Earlier this week on Tuesday, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court declined to stay the West Bengal assembly speaker's decision recognizing rebel legislator Ritabrata Banerjee as the assembly's leader of the opposition (LoP).
According to an earlier HT report, justices Shampa Sarkar and Ajay Kumar Gupta decided that justice Krishna Rao, who had initially heard TMC legislator Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay's petition against the speaker’s decision, must resolve the matter within two months. Ritabrata Banerjee welcomed the bench's decision.
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West Bengal assembly elections results 2026
In the high-stakes 294-seat West Bengal assembly elections held in April this year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated the TMC. Mamata Banerjee's party won 80 seats in the polls.