TMC vs TMC: Mamata Camp Files Four Police Complaints in a Day Against Rebel LoP Ritabrata Banerjee

The Trinamool Congress's internecine war shifted decisively onto legal terrain on Sunday as the Mamata Banerjee led faction filed fresh police complaints against the Ritabrata Banerjee led rebel group, naming the dissident leader along with former minister Arup Roy , Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha and Biplab Mitra, accusing them of running a parallel organisation by projecting themselves as office bearers of the All India Trinamool Congress without any authorisation from the party leadership.

The fresh complaints, filed by TMC joint national secretary Dola Sen at the Kalighat police station and Kolkata Police's Cyber Crime division, came a day after similar complaints were lodged at the Pragati Maidan and New Town police stations, bringing the total to four across Kolkata Police and Bidhannagar City Police jurisdictions within 24 hours. The complaints alleged the accused were using the party's name, symbol and organisational positions to "create confusion among workers and supporters and damage the party's image." The New Town complaint additionally sought a probe into the source of funds being deployed by the rebel camp for organising meetings, printing publicity material and running social media campaigns in the party's name. The loyalist faction also called out a procedural irregularity: a letter in which Ritabrata Banerjee described himself as the party's " general secretary " while writing to Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose, a designation the Mamata camp says was never conferred on him.

The loyalist camp argued that a 2022 organisational conference had voted to make Mamata Banerjee chairperson for life , that no special session could be convened except by her, and that the rebel camp had therefore "illegally" installed Arup Roy as chairperson and subsequently used the party's name and logo without authorisation.

The complaints represent a sharp escalation in a crisis that has been building since the TMC's crushing defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections ended its 15 year rule. The rebellion erupted after 58 of the party's 80 MLAs backed Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition over the leadership's official nominee, alleging that Abhishek Banerjee had forged signatures in the letter sent to the Speaker, a claim that triggered an FIR against Abhishek and a West Bengal CID probe. The Calcutta High Court subsequently refused to interfere with Speaker Rathindra Bose's decision to recognise Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition, handing the rebel camp a significant legal endorsement .

On June 22, the dissident faction escalated further, holding a " special session " at a luxury New Town hotel where it constituted a parallel 30 member national working committee , elected Arup Roy as party chairperson and suspended Abhishek Banerjee , with Mamata's photograph conspicuously absent from all banners. Mamata responded by expelling eight senior leaders including Firhad Hakim and Arup Roy . On Saturday, the rebel camp held another gathering at a Topsia banquet hall, drawing 47 former KMC councillors , aimed at building an urban support base ahead of the civic polls expected in December.

Ritabrata Banerjee was unimpressed by the legal offensive. "Anyone can file a complaint. There is law in the country and there is the Election Commission . Let there be faith in the law and the EC," he said, pointedly signalling that the final verdict on the party's name, symbol and future will be fought not at a police station but before the Election Commission, where both factions have already submitted rival claims .