This comes just two days after Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha were expelled from Mamata Banerjee's TMC on Monday for anti-party activities.

This comes just two days after Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha were expelled from Mamata Banerjee's TMC on Monday for anti-party activities.

This comes just two days after Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha were expelled from Mamata Banerjee's TMC on Monday for anti-party activities.

Ritabrata Banerjee, the leader of a rebel faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Wednesday became the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly.

Coming just two days after being expelled by the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC for alleged activities against the party, Ritabrata managed to garner signatures of 59 of the TMC's 80 MLAs in a letter to Speaker Rathindra Bose, most of whom are from the Murshidabad district.

Under the arrangement proposed in Ritabrata's letter, Sandipan Saha—the other TMC leader expelled on Monday—and Javed Khan will serve as Assistant Leaders of the Opposition, while Akhruzzaman has been named Chief Whip.

Reports say the Mamata Banerjee faction is preparing to challenge Ritabrata's actions via legal means.

This is the latest of the issues faced by the TMC as it tries to hold itself together after suffering a crushing defeat in the 2026 Assembly elections.

News of the possible split came after former TMC spokesperson Riju Dutta earlier claimed that about 50 of the newly elected 80 TMC MLAs had secretly met at the MLA Hostel in Kolkata to form a new faction.

Ritabrata has since rejected Dutta's allegations of staking a claim to the "real TMC", along with its twin-flower symbol, and becoming the LoP of a rebel bloc capable of bypassing the anti-defection laws.

Notably, the party high command's choice for LoP had been veteran leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, while Ashima Patra and Nayana Bandopadhyay were named Deputy Leaders of the Opposition, and Firhad Hakim was appointed Chief Whip.

Expulsion from the TMC?

Ritabrata and Sandipan Saha were expelled from the TMC on Monday for alleged anti-party activities after they issued a formal complaint alleging that the signatures of several TMC MLAs—including their own—were forged on the party's resolution document naming the LoP, Deputy Leader, and Chief Whip on May 6.

The decision from the party's top brass came just minutes after West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari revealed that such a complaint had been made, and that "nobody who forged signatures would be spared".

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