Trinamool Congress split as 20 MPs pledge support to NDA

About 20 Lok Sabha members of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have submitted a letter to Speaker Om Birla announcing their intention to support the BJP‑led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The move was announced by senior MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who said the group reflects the “people’s verdict” in West Bengal and will sit as a separate bloc in Parliament.

The rebellion follows the TMC’s defeat in the recent West Bengal assembly election, after which senior leader Sukhendu Shekhar Ray resigned from the party and the Rajya Sabha. In the state assembly, expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee has organised a breakaway faction that now commands the support of 58 of the party’s 80 MLAs and claims the title of Leader of Opposition.

Rebel MPs met at the New Delhi residence of Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, where they discussed the legal threshold under the anti‑defection law (two‑thirds of the parliamentary party) that would protect them from disqualification. The split threatens the cohesion of the TMC, long led by Mamata Banerjee, and could alter the balance of power in the Lok Sabha.