The alliance that was never fully an alliance
When the INDIA bloc was formed in 2023, Mamata Banerjee was one of its prominent leaders and said she had suggested the name “INDIA”. The idea was to bring opposition parties together nationally against the BJP.
West Bengal, however, exposed the alliance’s central contradiction. TMC, Congress and the Left needed cooperation at the national level while competing for the same political space in Bengal. Mamata therefore drew a distinction between national cooperation and the state contest: INDIA could exist in Delhi, but Bengal would be fought separately.
That distinction became the defining feature of the TMC–Congress relationship.
From “40 seats” to 99
The relationship deteriorated further in February 2024 when Mamata questioned whether Congress could win even 40 Lok Sabha seats if it contested around 300 constituencies. Congress ultimately won 99 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The episode mattered because it captured the two parties’ different calculations. The TMC viewed Congress primarily through the prism of Bengal, where it considered itself the principal opposition force. Congress, meanwhile, sought a meaningful national role and greater political space in states where it had an organisational presence.
The alliance formally survived, but electoral cooperation in Bengal did not.
Yusuf Pathan versus Adhir Ranjan: allies become opponents
The Baharampur contest made the contradiction visible. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had represented the constituency for about 25 years and was one of Congress’s strongest Bengal leaders. The TMC fielded former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who was making his electoral debut.
Pathan defeated Chowdhury, turning the constituency into a symbol of the wider TMC–Congress confrontation. The message was clear: the parties could cooperate within a broader national opposition framework while fighting one another directly in Bengal.
After polling, Mamata said the TMC could support an INDIA government from outside if one were formed at the Centre and maintained that the TMC remained part of INDIA nationally. In practice, cooperation became conditional on geography and political circumstances.
May 2026: the equation changes
The 2026 West Bengal Assembly election fundamentally altered the balance. The BJP won 207 of the 294 Assembly seats, while the TMC won 80 and Congress two, according to the Election Commission. The TMC had won 215 seats in 2021; the BJP had won 77.
Mamata Banerjee also lost Bhabanipur to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari. The TMC’s 15-year rule in Bengal ended, and the party moved from being the dominant state-level force to becoming the principal opposition organisation facing a BJP government.
The election defeat was followed almost immediately by an internal organisational crisis.
The TMC rebellion inside the Assembly
A rebel bloc led by expelled TMC MLA Ritabrata Banerjee claimed the support of around 60 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs. The group submitted signatures to the Assembly Speaker and sought recognition of Ritabrata as Leader of the Opposition. The Speaker subsequently recognised the new arrangement, according to reports cited in the original report.
The significance was larger than a normal leadership dispute. A bloc representing a majority of the TMC’s Assembly strength was challenging control of the Legislature Party.
Reports also described tensions over the role of Abhishek Banerjee and the functioning of the party leadership. The crisis therefore moved from an electoral defeat to a direct organisational challenge.
The rebellion reaches Parliament
The internal conflict then spread to Parliament. A group of 20 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs broke away in June, joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), and declared support for the BJP-led NDA. The TMC petitioned the Lok Sabha Speaker seeking disqualification of the rebel MPs; the legal status of the merger remained a matter for the Speaker.
The number was politically significant because it exceeded the two-thirds threshold commonly relevant to merger protection under the anti-defection framework, although that did not itself settle the legal question.
Three former TMC Rajya Sabha MPs — Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Prakash Chik Baraik — subsequently joined the BJP after resigning from the Rajya Sabha.
The crisis was therefore unfolding on two fronts: a large rebel bloc in the Assembly and a breakaway group in the Lok Sabha.
Defeat changes the TMC–Congress equation
Before the 2026 election, the TMC could approach Congress from the position of a dominant Bengal party. After the defeat, that bargaining position changed.
The TMC was now rebuilding its organisation, dealing with rebel MLAs and MPs, defending its political identity and facing a BJP government in the state. Mamata consequently returned to the language of broader opposition unity and referred to discussions with several opposition leaders.
Congress, however, was not automatically returning to the old arrangement. Its own Bengal organisation had an opportunity to rebuild, and the party could calculate that cooperation with the TMC should not simply mean accepting the TMC’s previous terms.
Nandigram and Rejinagar: a new test
The by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar became an early test of the new equation. The original report recorded Congress fielding candidates in both constituencies and a disputed claim that the TMC had explored an arrangement with Congress. The TMC denied that such a proposal had been made.
Nandigram carries particular significance because Mamata lost the seat to Suvendu Adhikari in 2021. After the 2026 election, the seat became vacant when Adhikari retained Bhabanipur.
The contest also became entangled with the TMC’s internal split, with rival factions seeking to establish their own organisational and electoral identity.
The TMC name and symbol come under dispute
The internal conflict reached a new institutional stage in September 2026. The Election Commission issued an interim order freezing the All India Trinamool Congress name and its reserved symbol for the rival factions while the dispute over organisational control is considered. The factions were directed to use alternative names and symbols for the upcoming by-elections.
This development takes the dispute beyond leadership. It raises a more fundamental question: which faction can legitimately represent the party and inherit its organisational identity?
The Commission’s action is interim; it does not by itself determine the final claimant to the original name and symbol.
Why defeat can bring former rivals back together
The Bengal experience illustrates how political alliances change when the balance of power changes.
In 2024, the TMC had strong reasons to fight Congress separately in Bengal. After the 2026 defeat, opposition coordination became more relevant to the TMC, while Congress gained greater room to negotiate its own role.
That creates a paradox.
Defeat can make cooperation more necessary, but it can also make former allies more determined to renegotiate the terms. Congress may seek to rebuild independently; the TMC must rebuild while managing its internal split; and both operate against a BJP that now controls the state government.
The INDIA bloc therefore cannot be understood simply as a permanent electoral alliance. Its constituent parties continue to cooperate in some circumstances and compete in others.
From confrontation to a search for common ground
The sequence is striking. In 2024, Mamata questioned whether Congress could cross 40 Lok Sabha seats; Congress eventually won 99. The TMC then fought Congress directly in Bengal, including the high-profile Yusuf Pathan–Adhir Ranjan contest.
Two years later, the TMC lost Bengal, falling from 215 Assembly seats to 80. Mamata lost Bhabanipur. A large bloc of MLAs challenged the leadership of the Legislature Party, 20 Lok Sabha MPs broke away, three former Rajya Sabha MPs joined the BJP, and the party’s name and symbol became the subject of an Election Commission dispute.
Against that backdrop, the TMC again began seeking broader opposition cooperation.
The Bengal story therefore is less about the simple collapse or survival of INDIA and more about changing political leverage. The TMC–Congress relationship has moved from cooperation, to confrontation, to direct electoral competition and back towards discussions about collective opposition.
Whether that develops into a formal alliance will depend on electoral arithmetic, organisational strength and the interests of both parties — rather than on the language of the original 2023 arrangement.
Disclaimer: This article is a political analysis based on publicly reported statements, election results and developments available at the time of writing. Reported allegations and disputed claims are identified as such. The article presents competing political positions and developments for informational purposes and does not endorse or oppose any political party, leader, alliance or electoral choice.
BJP has given opportunity to Cong to revive it's fortune in Delhi and WB defeating 2 most powerful opposition leaders but it seems Cong has decided to plunder the chance in both states. Rather Cong is lenting support to Mamata Didi . Best was when Rocks ( chattan ) were broken by BJP in Delhi and WB , Cong should have thrown the remaining kachra of AAP and TMC in dustbin , but it is busy in making TMC and AAP revive . RaGa not interested iat all n reviving Cing at all is proved by classic cases of Delhi and WB.