Her advice may be taken or ignored, a vast change from the days when her's was the last word. Banerjee's new post rekindles memories of the way by which Lal Krishna Advani was sidelined and made a "Margdarshak' when Narendra Modi first became the prime minister. An adviser is sans the authority of the supremo. And above all, no longer can the "paramashwadata" bring in her nephew Abhishek Banerjee whom his detractors blame for the disastrous poll results and consider to be the proverbial straw on the camel's back.

The dissidents who have broken away and formed a group read a party of their own have not yet received Mamata's blessings. Canny politician that she is, Banerjee knows that Ritabrata is working for rendering her powerless. This new group is getting backing from the state BJP and advised by the top leaders from Delhi. The Delhi BJP leaders including the PM and Amit Shah want to make use of this anti-Mamata group to split the Trinamool Congress MP’s in Parliament. TMC has 27 members in Lok Sabha at the moment.

What appeared to be a combination of happenstance and coincidence at a first glance was actually a planned action of the saffron camp against a formidable political adversary. Be it the apparently chance meeting between chief minister, Subhendu Adhikari and Trinamool legislator Ritabrata Banerjee at the national Capital or the staying away of several TMC MLAs from the post-poll stock taking meeting of Mamata Banerjee and her stay-in demonstration , the incidents formed the links of a chains of a takeover plan tried and tested earlier.

Of course, the entire episode would never have occurred had not the charges of fake signature of MLAs endorsing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay to the post of leader of the Opposition did not crop up. Ritabrata and Sandipan Saha, both Trinamool MLAs turned out to be whistle blowers and set the ball rolling for the split.

What had been a "half chance', in cricketing parlance was converted into a catch. And as the old cricketing adage goes ' catches win matches."Ritabrata Banerjee and majority of MLAs have certainly won this round engineering the split. But it would be a vastly different Trinamool Congress Legislature Party they would be heading than the one led by Mamata Banerjee between 2011 to 2026.

Forsaking going hammer and tongs at the BJP, the present Trinamool legislature party is not going to rub the Treasury bench occupants or chief minister, Adhikari the wrong way. On the plea of "expediting development" the Ritabrata -led Opposition would co-operate with the ruling dispensation.

Noisy scenes of walkouts and protests would be conspicuous by their absence during coming Assembly sessions. The Opposition read TMC is likely to cast itself in a "constructive role" during sessions given it is an outfit being led by a legislator already expelled from it.

Arguably the group of lawmakers loyal to Mamata Banerjee would offer some Opposition. But given its numbers, its protests would be lacking in sound and fury. Trinamool Congress Legislature party has little to lose post dislodging Mamata Banerjee from her perch. Her utility would be felt when the election is round the corner

The law makers face no election in near future. Hence the principal vote catcher is dispensible to them. But the same cannot be said about the civic representatives as members of the boards of corporations and municipalities are resigning almost on a daily basis. Civic bodies election would have to be held on time as running them through administrators would sully the democratic facade of the saffron camp.

Mamata Banerjee’s stock taking meetings and sit in demonstrations were not marked by the presence of too many councillors. These civic representatives will have a tough time when they seek the people's mandate in near future.

After all, these Trinamool candidates earlier won in different civic body elections with the blessings of the party supremo, Banerjee. Such support would be denied to them when they seek the people's mandate post split.

The civic elections be it at a back of beyond district or Kolkata itself will provide the erstwhile Trinamool supremo an opportunity to test her popularity. She has often accused the BJP of "vote loot".

It would be entirely upto her to substantiate the credence of her charge of "vote loot' pitted against the nominees of TMC breakaway group, BJP, Left and Congress in the coming civic elections. And there is no denying the fact, the breakaway group is sans a charismatic leader.

The Assembly elections result of 2026 has been the most severe blow to Mamata Banerjee’s charisma. She is looking forward to an opportunity to retrieve it. Future elections would thus be an acid test for the old and breakaway factions. A string of victories, by a slim margin or a landslide would be putting on the mantle of people's support on the winner.

Come elections, the new party will have to be in competition with the old one to mark its presence and space among the electorate. It will have to find a new ideology which people can relate to.

This ideology will have to differ from that of Mamata Banerjee, BJP and the Left. It would be no easy task for Ritabrata to emerge as a leader who inspires confidence among the people to get voters loyalty which is a tougher task than breaking away from Mamata with a group of law makers. (IPA Service)