{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "Mamata Banerjee's Worries Deepen as Seven-Time MLA Manas Ranjan Bhunia Quits the Trinamool Congress",
  "summary": "Cracks within the Trinamool Congress are widening after its assembly election defeat. Former minister and seven-time MLA Manas Ranjan Bhunia has resigned from the party and all his organisational posts.",
  "content": "Discontent Grows After the Poll Defeat\n\nThe fault lines inside the Trinamool Congress have begun to surface openly following the party's heavy loss in the West Bengal assembly election. In the latest setback, senior leader Manas Ranjan Bhunia — a former minister in the Mamata Banerjee government — has cut ties with the party. On Saturday he wrote to party chief Mamata Banerjee, announcing that he was stepping down from all his organisational positions as well as the party's primary membership. Bhunia himself confirmed that he had decided to end his association with the Trinamool Congress for good.\n\n \n\nA Long Journey From Congress to Trinamool\n\nThe Sabang assembly seat in Paschim Medinipur district has long been the heart of Bhunia's political career. He has been elected MLA from there a total of seven times and was for years counted among the Congress's leading figures. Of those wins, six came on a Congress ticket from Sabang. In 2016 he parted ways with the Congress and joined the Trinamool Congress.\n\n \n\nTight-Lipped on the Real Reason\n\nBhunia did not spell out exactly why he was leaving. Hinting at his intentions, however, he said, 'A politician remains a politician till his last breath. I will keep working for the people of Sabang and West Bengal until my final breath.' Asked whether he was considering joining the BJP, he sidestepped a direct answer, saying, 'I have not taken any decision on this yet. I will decide going forward.'\n\n \n\nA String of Electoral Setbacks\n\nRecent elections have been unkind to Bhunia. In 2021 he won the Sabang seat on a TMC ticket, but in the 2026 assembly election he was defeated — this time by BJP candidate Amal Kumar Panda by a margin of more than 11,000 votes. Earlier, he had contested the Medinipur seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, where the BJP's then state president Dilip Ghosh handed him a defeat.\n\n \n\nFrom Rajya Sabha MP to Cabinet Minister\n\nOver his political career, Bhunia has held several key positions. He served as a TMC Rajya Sabha MP until 2021. After that, the Mamata Banerjee government entrusted him with charge of important departments, including Irrigation and Waterways, Small and Micro Industries, and Textiles.\n\n \n\nMamata's Confidant Sudip Bandyopadhyay Joins the Rebels\n\nMeanwhile, senior MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay — long regarded as one of Mamata Banerjee's trusted aides in Parliament — now appears to be standing with the rebel camp as well. This group of dissident MPs is preparing to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday to press their demand to be recognised in Parliament as the 'real Trinamool Congress'. On Saturday, Sudip Bandyopadhyay held a meeting with Union Minister Bhupender Yadav and rebel TMC MP Satabdi Roy. He also called on Home Minister Amit Shah.\n\nWhat this means for you\n• Across India: Post-poll defections and rebellion inside a ruling regional party signal that state-level politics and alliance equations may shift in the coming days — something voters across the country will be watching.\n• In West Bengal/Sabang: For people in Sabang, the immediate effect is uncertainty over the political future of their long-serving, seven-time MLA, raising questions about local leadership and who will represent the area.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/politics/bngala-men-trinamula-kangresa-ki-darara-chauri-7-bara-ke-vidhayaka-manasa-rnjana-549",
  "category": "Politics",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-13",
  "tags": [
    "Trinamool Congress",
    "Manas Ranjan Bhunia",
    "Mamata Banerjee",
    "West Bengal politics",
    "Sabang seat",
    "Sudip Bandyopadhyay",
    "TMC resignation"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}