NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Madan Mitra on Wednesday resigned from the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the party and joined the rebel TMC faction headed by Ritabrata Banerjee, dealing another setback to the former chief minister’s camp.His exit comes amid a series of defections from the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, with several senior leaders and MLAs joining the rival group led by Ritabrata Banerjee in recent weeks following the political split in the party.Speaking to reporters after joining the rebel camp, Mitra accused TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee of refusing to step aside despite the party’s crisis.“I had suggested to Abhishek Banerjee that he step aside for six months or a year. I told him, let us build the party, and then you can come back and take your seat, but he refused. He said, ‘I won’t leave the party.’ The party is sinking; the boat has gone under. People are dying. Yet, the party decided, or rather it was forced to accept, that everyone else could die, but Abhishek had to be saved. It is deeply saddening.”Mitra alleged that the party had become centred around one individual instead of functioning collectively.“The party belongs to everyone, yet it seems to have been reduced to serving only Abhishek. I earnestly request Mamata ji to come. Let us view this as a marathon. We will surely cross paths along the way. Let us see which horse surges ahead.”He said he had resigned from all organisational positions in the Trinamool Congress and no longer considered himself part of the party.“I have resigned from all the positions. Though I remain an MLA. I have left everything associated with Trinamool. That means I am no longer a Trinamool MLA in the functional sense.”“I have only changed my room, not my house. I am very much in the TMC,” Mitra told reporters after meeting the rebel leader.The development comes a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned Mitra’s wife and his two sons for questioning in connection with its money laundering investigation into the alleged municipal recruitment scam in West Bengal.According to the ED, the summons were issued after investigators found financial transactions involving the family members during the course of the probe. The agency has asked them to appear next week to record their statements.The case relates to alleged irregularities in appointments to various municipal bodies in West Bengal. The ED is investigating the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on predicate offences registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The agency had earlier conducted searches at multiple premises linked to Mitra in June this year, while the CBI had also searched his residence in October 2025 as part of its investigation into the same case.
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