Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has waded into her party's deepening internal crisis with a pointed comparison, telling reporters she holds more respect for Suvendu Adhikari's decision to openly quit the party years ago than for the dozens of TMC legislators now distancing themselves from the Mamata Banerjee-Abhishek Banerjee leadership without formally resigning. Adhikari left the Trinamool Congress to join the BJP and is now West Bengal's leader of the opposition.
The remarks come as TMC battles an unusually large internal revolt, with reports putting the number of disaffected MLAs at close to sixty and a separate group of roughly twenty Lok Sabha MPs said to have signalled support for the NDA. Moitra argued that lawmakers uneasy with the current leadership should resign and contest fresh elections on a different party symbol, rather than continue holding seats won on a TMC ticket while privately aligning elsewhere.
She described the unfolding churn within the party as a sorting-out process that would ultimately leave Trinamool stronger, characterising the departing or wavering members as having benefited from the TMC ticket without remaining loyal to it. Her comments have circulated widely across political commentary in the days since, turning what began as an internal party dispute into a wider talking point about loyalty and defection in West Bengal politics.
The TMC's troubles have unfolded gradually since the party's 2026 assembly win, with friction reportedly centred on the balance of power between Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. Moitra's intervention is among the most direct public defences of the leadership to emerge from within the party's own ranks so far.
