ANI
04 Jun 2026

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 4 (ANI): As the Trinamool Congress (TMC) continues to face a deepening internal crisis, West Bengal Minister and senior BJP leader Tapas Roy on Thursday said that the party's collapse was 'inevitable'.

Speaking to ANI, Roy launched a sharp attack on the TMC leadership, alleging that former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is now facing the consequences of earlier political realignments.

His remarks come amid heightened political turbulence within the TMC following claims by a group of rebel MLAs, including expelled party leaders Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, who have said they have the backing of 58 legislators in the West Bengal Assembly, and rejected the party leadership's choice of Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay for the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP).

Ritabrata Banerjee later claimed that the faction had been 'accepted as the principal opposition' in the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly and that the Speaker had acknowledged 'our claim'.

Commenting on the developments, Tapas Roy said, 'The Speaker's decision is final... Trinamool's collapse was inevitable. Everyone knew it. It had to happen. When Mamata Banerjee was breaking other parties and MLAs, she should have thought of this.'

Earlier, Ritabrata Banerjee had claimed support of two-thirds of TMC's 80 newly elected MLAs, asserting that the group represented the principal opposition in the Assembly.

'This two-thirds strong legislative team of the Trinamool Congress inside the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly does not believe in 'I', it believes in 'we'. Whatever norms are framed out, we have followed every norm, and that's why we have been accepted as the principal opposition in the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly,' he said.

'We want Mamata Banerjee to be our chief advisor, to give us advice that will help us in strengthening our position as the opposition. Eighty members were elected by the Trinamool Congress symbol. More than two-thirds of them have given our claim, and the claim has been accepted,' he added.

A letter submitted to Speaker Rathindranath Bose reportedly sought recognition of Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of Opposition, along with demands for the posts of Chief Whip and Deputy LoPs for the faction.

Meanwhile, the TMC high command has challenged the legitimacy of the move, alleging irregularities in the signatures submitted to the Speaker. Senior party leader Kunal Ghosh claimed several MLAs' signatures appeared on competing letters submitted by both factions and said the matter would require legal scrutiny. (ANI)