Kolkata: The latest episode in the internal battle of Trinamool Congress (TMC) was played out on Friday evening when some of the rebel MLAs took control of the party headquarters in Kolkata.
A day after staking their claim to the party’s name and election symbol before the Election Commission in Delhi, the Ritabrata Banerjee-led group went over to Trinamool Bhavan on EM Bypass in a bid to assert control.
Firhad Hakim, former Kolkata Mayor and close aide of Mamata Banerjee, walked in with Leader of Opposition Ritabrata, former minister Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha, Prasun Banerjee, Akhruzzaman and some other MLAs even as Mamata camp MLA Chandrima Bhattacharya sat inside with some workers.
The TMC rebels held a meeting among themselves to discuss ‘strategy’.
Firhad Hakim and Ritabrata Banerjee have taken control of Trinamool Bhawan.
A big setback for Mamata.
Now it’s time to refill the popcorn. pic.twitter.com/cgSIQa9byf
— Facts (@BefittingFacts) July 3, 2026
After Chandrima of the rival camp left the premises, Ritabrata’s group came out and told the media, “We are the Trinamool. This is our party office.” They also claimed that they would henceforth be operating from there only.
The group put up an ‘All India Trinamool Congress’ banner outside the building, which had senior MLA Arup Roy as the party’s chairperson (in place of Mamata Banerjee).
They went on to lock the main entrance and left.
Anticipating trouble, policepersons from the local police station and central forces reached the location.
Within a few minutes, MLAs supporting former CM Mamata arrived at the scene to find the building locked.
The likes of Kunal Ghosh and Madan Mitra had an argument with police officers, asking how the rival group could put up a lock.
The cops, however, said they couldn’t allow the Mamata loyalists to break open the gate and enter the premises.
“We have lodged a formal police complaint against those who trespassed into Trinamool Bhavan today and put a lock on it. There was absolutely no need to put a lock on the premises. Furthermore, expelled members have no right to enter the party office,” said Kunal.
“We could have forcefully broken the lock they installed, but refrained from any illegal or irresponsible action. We appealed to the police, but they allowed the intruders to lock the premises and stood guard to protect that lock. When we asked the police to facilitate entry, the local police, RAF, and central forces simply refused,” Kunal claimed.
“This is a major conspiracy to damage the Trinamool party… The people of Bengal and Trinamool workers are watching everything,” he claimed.