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For nearly three decades, Mamata Banerjee has been the undisputed face, voice, and absolute authority of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). That era ended June 22 when a faction removed her as party chairperson during a meeting at a five-star hotel, effectively staging an internal coup to sideline the supremo.

The coup’s mechanics rely on a constitutional loophole weaponised by the first-time MLA who has turned out to be the party’s turncoat mastermind, Ritabrata Banerjee. Citing Article 20 of the TMC constitution, which mandates forming a new National Working Committee every three years, the breakaway group argues that the last committee, registered in February 2022, expired without formal renewal. This, they claim, renders the existing high command legally void.

Immediately following the presenting of the state budget by the new Bharatiya Janata Party government, both factions moved aggressively to claim the party’s legal identity. Refusing to cede ground, Mamata Banerjee dispatched a revised working committee list to the Election Commission in Delhi, asserting her continued control. This updated “Kalighat list” – an allusion to the locality where the former chief minister lives – excluded turncoat MPs Saayoni Ghosh and Mala Roy, who formally defected to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), and Jyotipriya Mallick, who recently resigned citing illness.

Simultaneously, Ritabrata Banerjee’s turncoat faction convened a special session to seize organisational control. The party’s executive core was........

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