Several TMC rebels jumping ship carry baggage: Is 'washing machine' back at work?

Ever since losing power in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) of Mamata Banerjee has witnessed something unprecedented. Within a month, the party crumbled in a way nobody had anticipated, first in the state and then in Parliament, virtually leaving the supremo and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee isolated. The making of a beeline to abandon the party and back the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by some leaders who have a controversial past has also reignited the "washing machine" theory in Indian politics, that is, tainted leaders join the saffron party to emerge clean.

After two-thirds of the TMC’s elected MLAs dissented in the Bengal Assembly, forming their own bloc, several MPs of the party also decided to choose a different path. Many of them met Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at the residences of a Union minister and then one of the many dissenting MPs in New Delhi on Monday (June 8), the same day Mamata and Abhishek attended a crucial meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

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Neither of the two dissenting blocs in the Assembly nor Parliament has officially joined the BJP. However, the lot in the Lok Sabha has sought to back the National Democratic Alliance. In the Assembly, the splinter group reportedly has more supporting numbers than that backing Mamata and Ritabrata Banerjee, who the party expelled days after the results came out on grounds of anti-party activities, has emerged as the leader of the opposition.

According to critics, Ritabrata and the group supporting him have been facilitated by the BJP in order to crush any chance for Mamata to make a comeback.

Two RS MPs also quit

Two senior MPs of the TMC in the Upper House also quit this week. Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, one of Mamata’s close aides since the inception of the TMC, stepped down on Monday, while Sushmita Dev, daughter of the late Congress heavyweight, Santosh Mohan Dev, quit on Wednesday (June 10), deepening the crisis further. While Roy said he might quit politics, Sushmita's meeting with the chief minister of her home state Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, soon after, triggered speculation.

Also read: TMC's many battles: Rebel MPs form NDA bloc in Parliament as Assembly fight reaches HC

While it’s an endless flow at the moment, let’s look at some prominent names of the TMC who did not waste time jumping ship at the earliest possible opportunity. Many of these leaders also carry baggage with them.

Dissenting leaders and their baggage

Ritabrata, for example, has pending cases pertaining to sexual offences, including rape, outraging a woman’s modesty, cheating and criminal intimidation, among others. A former member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Ritabrata was expelled from the Left party and joined the TMC in 2020. He was called a betrayer by Mamata after he dissented.

Chandranath Sinha, a four-time MLA from Bolpur in Birbhum district of the state and a former state minister who has backed Ritabrata, faces pending legal cases pertaining to the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into the Bengal primary school teacher recruitment scam.

The ED earlier this year attached properties and assets belonging to Sinha and his family worth approximately Rs 3.65 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In 2024, the ED seized over Rs 40 lakh in unaccounted cash from his Bolpur residence.

Four-time MLA from Kasba, Javed Khan, who is the deputy leader of the opposition in the state, has an FIR registered against him and 10 others for allegedly triggering violence in the Tiljala-Pragati Maidan area following the 2026 assembly election results. He surrendered before the Alipore Court in Kolkata and secured bail in this case.

Rathin Ghosh, another dissenting veteran MLA from Madhyamgram constituency in North 24 Parganas, is under investigation by the ED regarding the alleged municipal recruitment scam.

Rebel MPs also have a past

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has emerged as the leader of the rebel MPs in the Lok Sabha, also has charges against her, including offences related to the obstruction of public servants, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal conspiracy. The doctor-politician was also one of the accused in the 2016 Narada payoff scam.

Among the TMC's rebels in the Lok Sabha are Bapi Haldar (Mathurapur constituency), who has a case against him pertaining to panchayat fund misappropriation, filed against him by a BJP leader, Anup Kumar Mistri. Barrackpore MP Partha Bhaumik, another rebel MP, is accused of instigating violence against BJP supporters and functionaries in the aftermath of the 2021 Assembly elections.

Also read: Jolt to Mamata as TMC split widens; Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claims 20 MPs back NDA

On Monday, state BJP minister Arjun Singh, who was Partha's predecessor in Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, and five other MLAs, moved the police, demanding his arrest, suggesting that not all in the state unit of the BJP are not happy with the dissenting TMC leaders' plan to toe the saffron party's line.

Arup Chakraborty, the rebel MP from Taldangra in Bengal’s Bankura district, has faced sharp criticism from the BJP and several other quarters for his remarks against protesting doctors after the RG Kar hospital rape-murder incident in 2024. He is accused of warning that doctors would not be spared from public anger.

Senior MP from Howrah, Prasun Banerjee, a former national footballer, is also among the rebels. He is named in the Narada sting operation case.

Satabdi Roy, the four-time MP from Birbhum who has also joined the rebel ranks and alleged that the TMC was full of corruption and their voices were unheard, is also named in the Saradha investigation in connection with a chit-fund scam in Bengal in the early 2010s.

Exits spark 'washing machine' speculation

The latest incidents of TMC leaders, accused in various cases, to leave the party in the wake of an electoral debacle to jump ship have not only raised questions over their loyalty and ideological integrity but also brought back the much-discussed term of “washing machine” in Indian politics.

CM Adhikari is also among those accused in the Narada sting operation. He left the TMC to join the BJP in 2020.