Rebel Trinamool MPs And MLAs Navigate A New Political Middle Ground

West Bengal’s political landscape is beginning to reveal a curious contradiction. The recent appearance of three MLAs associated with Opposition leader Ritabrata Banerjee’s faction at a protest organised by the Mamata Banerjee camp against the alleged attack on Didi recently is one such indication. The developments involving the three NCPI MPs point to a similar dilemma at the national level. Their reluctance to be seen as unequivocally aligned with the NDA, while simultaneously engaging with the government on constituency issues, reflects the pressures of electoral politics. Abdul Khaleque Molla, Mohammad Tausif-ur-Rahman and Bibhas Sardar of the Ritabrata Banerjee-aligned faction appeared alongside senior Trinamool leaders Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and Kunal Ghosh at the Assembly premises. Their presence has triggered speculation about whether some legislators are moving back to Didi’s fold. Tausif reaffirmed his loyalty to Mamata, while Sardar stressed that the MLAs had won on the Trinamool’s symbol. Molla, however, said he continued to align with the Ritabrata faction but had joined the protest over the alleged attack. Ritabrata sought to play down the speculation but maintained that his group still had 65 MLAs. Meanwhile, three Muslim MPs of the breakaway Nationalist Citizens Party of India—Abu Taher Khan, Khalilur Rahaman and former cricketer Yusuf Pathan—have again stayed away from NDA meetings, yet attended the breakfast organised by PM Narendra Modi. They also attended a meeting with West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari. Khan said the MPs would remain with NCPI and would not join or support the BJP, stressing that they had “voters to answer to”. Pathan said he raised the issue of voter-list deletions and constituency concerns at the meeting with Adhikari. This is perhaps the larger lesson from both episodes. Bengal’s emerging political realignment cannot be understood simply through the language of defections, camps and alliances. The more consequential battle is over political space.