‘First Resign, Then Join NDA’: Kunal Ghosh’s Message To TMC Rebels

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh on Friday hit out at the party’s rebel MPs, saying those elected on the strength of the party and the anti-BJP vote should resign from Parliament if they now wish to align with the BJP-led NDA.

Speaking to reporters, Ghosh said the MPs were elected as candidates of Mamata Banerjee and not as independents, and therefore had no moral right to retain their seats while distancing themselves from the party.

Referring to the funds, which TMC leader Aroop Biswas demanded to freeze, Ghosh said, “We have nothing to say about the party’s funds because this fund department has nothing to do with us.”

Biswas, who was removed as treasurer during a reorganisation announced by the Mamata Banerjee camp on June 5, wrote and flagged the split in the party’s parliamentary and legislative bodies. He demanded a halt to all financial transactions in its account.

‘If You Want To Join NDA, First Resign’

Talking about the dissident MPs, he added, “Those people who won in 2024 were anti-BJP vote… But after the MLA election, they have no connection with it. After the election, they are saying that we will go to the NDA and become friends of the BJP.”

The TMC leader argued that any MP seeking to break ranks with the party should first resign from Parliament before pursuing a new political alignment.

“Those people should resign from the Rajya Sabha, and then they should resign in the Lok Sabha. The resignation model of rebels in the Rajya Sabha, somehow, in the Lok Sabha, one will have to keep the MP seat. What is this, you people were not independent by origin, you were Mamata Banerjee’s candidate, so if you want to do all this, then first resign” he said.

#WATCH | Kolkata, West Bengal: On the rebel TMC MPs’, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh says, “We have nothing to say about the party’s funds because this fund department has nothing to do with us… Those people who won in 2024 were anti-BJP vote… But after the MLA election, they have no… pic.twitter.com/m7pjTqeQdy

— ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2026

His remarks come amid an ongoing row within the TMC over statements and actions by a section of MPs that the party leadership has viewed as being at odds with its official position.

TMC Split Continues

The crisis within the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress deepened on Friday with former West Bengal minister Jyoti Priya Mallick resigning from all party organisational posts, citing deteriorating health, and senior North Bengal leader Goutam Deb stepping down as mayor of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

Mallick said worsening diabetes and kidney-related ailments had made it impossible for him to continue discharging party responsibilities. His resignation comes just days after he was inducted into the TMC’s reconstituted working committee during a major organisational reshuffle.

A five-time MLA and former food and supplies as well as forest minister, Mallick was once among TMC’s most influential leaders in North 24 Parganas. However, his political standing weakened after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged ration distribution scam in 2023. He was granted bail in January 2025 after spending around 15 months in custody.

The resignation follows TMC’s poor performance in the 2026 Assembly elections, in which Mallick lost the Habra seat to the BJP’s Debdas Mondal by more than 31,000 votes.