Two Trinamool Congress MPs Resign from Party and Parliament as Rebellion Widens

Two sitting members of the Trinamool Congress have resigned from the party and from Parliament within the same news cycle, marking the most visible sign yet of a deepening rift inside one of India's most electorally dominant regional forces. Sushmita Dev and Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray both formally parted ways with the party led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, triggering fresh uncertainty about the bloc's cohesion at the national level.

Ray submitted his resignation from the Rajya Sabha alongside his departure from the party, according to reporting by The Hindu. His exit is significant because upper-house seats are difficult to obtain and surrendering one signals a break that goes beyond internal discontent. Dev, a former president of the party's women's wing and a prominent face in the northeast, told reporters only that her reasons for leaving constituted "a long story," declining to elaborate on or criticise her former leader directly, the Hindustan Times reported.

A third legislator, Saayoni Ghosh — known for publicly championing Mamata Banerjee as a potential future prime minister — is reported by NDTV to have aligned herself with the dissidents, though she had not publicly confirmed the move at the time of reporting. Sources cited by the outlet suggested her position had already been settled internally.

The Hindu framed the resignations primarily as evidence of simmering differences among Trinamool's parliamentary contingent, noting that speculation about additional departures was already circulating. NDTV placed greater emphasis on the political irony of figures who had boosted Mamata Banerjee's national profile now turning against the party leadership, implicitly raising questions about the role of Abhishek Banerjee, the chief minister's nephew and a powerful organisational figure. The Hindustan Times focused on Dev's reticence, treating her studied silence as itself a comment on the state of intra-party relations.

Trinamool Congress rose from a splinter of the Indian National Congress in 1998 and has governed West Bengal continuously since 2011. The party has in recent years positioned itself as a potential anchor for a non-BJP, non-Congress federal front, making internal unity a matter of consequence beyond Bengal's borders. Any sustained wave of defections could complicate that national positioning ahead of future electoral cycles.

What triggered the specific break remains publicly unacknowledged by the principals involved. Dev's refusal to detail her grievances, and the absence of a public statement from Ghosh, leaves the precise internal dynamics unclear. Analysts will watch whether the departing members announce a new political home, return to the Congress, or seek an independent path.

The immediate question is whether the resignations represent an isolated episode or the leading edge of a broader exodus. The Hindu's reporting explicitly noted that more MPs could follow, a prospect that, if realised, would force the party to defend its parliamentary numbers and its reputation for discipline in the run-up to West Bengal's next state election.