Mamata Accuses BJP of Plotting TMC Split — Most Leaders Stay Away from Sit-in

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP on Tuesday of running a coordinated campaign to fracture her Trinamool Congress party from within. Her allegations came as she organised a sit-in protest at Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground, though attendance fell well short of expectations with only a handful of party leaders joining her at the event.

The protest marked a sharp escalation in the ongoing political war of words between the TMC and the BJP at the national level. Banerjee has long accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party of engineering defections to weaken her government ahead of the 2026 Bengal assembly elections. This time, she went further, claiming the BJP has a dedicated cell focused solely on breaking up her party structure in multiple districts.

Banerjee's Direct Accusation Against BJP

Speaking to reporters at the Brigade Parade Ground, Banerjee said her intelligence networks had uncovered evidence of BJP workers actively recruiting TMC councillors and grassroots leaders with offers of money and political positions. "They are paying people to leave. They are threatening people to leave. This is not politics, this is coercion," she told assembled journalists. The chief minister stopped short of providing documented evidence but said her party would release a detailed report within days.

The BJP immediately rejected the accusations. Party spokesperson Shehzeb Pathan dismissed the claims as a distraction from what he called the TMC's failing governance record. "Mamata Banerjee is looking for enemies because she cannot explain why inflation is crushing Bengal's families or why unemployment keeps rising in her state," Pathan said in a written statement. The BJP has consistently denied involvement in any efforts to destabilise state governments run by rival parties.

Weak Turnout Raises Questions

The low turnout at Tuesday's sit-in has sparked speculation about fractures within the TMC's own ranks. Several senior ministers and district-level presidents were notably absent, prompting local media to question whether Banerjee's authority within her own party is as solid as she claims. Political analysts in Kolkata say the sparse attendance could embolden potential defectors who have been watching to gauge the chief minister's grip on her legislators.

Former Rajya Sabha member and political commentator Kunal Chatterjee told local news outlet Ei Samay that the protest format itself was unusual for Banerjee, who typically prefers large public rallies to make political statements. "A sit-in signals she wants to project unity but the empty chairs behind her send the opposite message. This is not the Mamata we usually see," Chatterjee noted.

Impact on Ground-Level Party Workers

For ordinary TMC workers in districts like Malda, Murshidabad, and South 24 Parganas, the internal tension creates real anxiety about their political future. Several councillors reached by phone declined to be named, saying they had received approaches from BJP agents in recent months. "They offer us money. They say the TMC is finished and we should switch now," one elected representative from North 24 Parganas district said. This pattern of alleged inducements has added weight to Banerjee's accusations, according to party sources.

What Comes Next for Bengal's Political Landscape

The BJP has been steadily expanding its footprint in Bengal since 2019, when it won 18 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats in a dramatic surge that shattered the TMC's almost complete dominance. Since then, the party has been working to build a base at the municipal and panchayat level, areas where the TMC has historically maintained iron control through a combination of popular schemes and, critics say, coercion.

Senior TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim defended the party's cohesion, stating that the absence of some leaders from the sit-in was due to prior commitments rather than political drift. "Every MLA and MP stands with Didi. What you saw today was only the beginning. We have many more programmes planned," Hakim told reporters outside the party office on B.B.D. Bagh Road.

The upcoming weeks will test whether Banerjee can rally her troops convincingly or whether the BJP's alleged infiltration efforts have done more damage than publicly acknowledged. Party sources say the TMC is planning a series of district-level meetings in February where Banerjee will address party workers directly, an approach that has worked for her in past electoral cycles when internal doubts have surfaced.

For Bengal's electorate, the real stakes lie in whether this internal turbulence affects the delivery of government services and infrastructure projects. The TMC government has bet heavily on schemes like Duare Sarkar, which brings government services to citizens' doorsteps, and any perception of party weakness could complicate the rollout ahead of the 2026 vote. Citizens in Kolkata, Howrah, and Siliguri will be watching closely to see if the political drama translates into any slowdown in government operations.