Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has led the rebel camp of MPs, told media persons that the group would take legal steps against Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra for claiming that the rebel MPs had taken pecuniary gains for switching sides. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
After the party’s MLAs and MPs split up, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership is facing a new crisis, where three accounts of the party have been frozen by a bank in Kolkata. Funds to the tune of ₹440 crore are parked in these accounts, sources said.
Letters and emails accessed by The Hindu show that the bank has informed the officer-in-charge of the cyber crime police station of Bidhannagar city police on Friday (June 19, 2026) that a “debit freeze” had been marked in the three account numbers.
Trinamool leader and former party treasurer Aroop Biswas had written to the bank, flagging the split in the party’s Parliamentary and legislative wings, and demanded a halt to all financial transactions in its account.
“In order to safeguard the funds of the organisation. I request your good office to maintain the status quo and refrain from permitting any debit transactions or changes in operational mandates in respect of the following account.,” Mr. Biswas, a former Minister, and said in his letter to the bank.
It is not clear whether Mr. Biswas, who is facing investigation with regard to financial irregularities and administrative lapses during footballer Lionel Messi’s 2025 Kolkata tour, consulted TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee or senior leader Abhishek Banerjee before writing such a letter.
MLA Kunal Ghosh, a loyalist of Ms. Banerjee, said that Mr. Biswas no longer held the post of treasurer and had no authority to speak for the party on financial matters. During an executive committee meeting held on June 5, it was unanimously decided that Subhasish Chakraborty would be the treasurer, and Mr. Chakraborty has been discharging the functions of a treasurer since then, Mr. Ghosh said.
The account freeze also follows complaints by 10 rebel MLAs aligned with the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ritabrata Banerjee to the cyber crime police station under the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, seeking registration of a First Information Report, and a detailed investigation into the accounts.
“It has come to my knowledge through reliable circumstances and surrounding developments that certain funds, arising out of illegal activities, including misuse of influence, dishonest financial dealings and suspected unlawful collection of money, may have been routed and subsequently deposited into bank accounts,” the complaint by the MLAs stated.
The Trinamool Congress won 80 seats in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election. Mr. Ritabrata Banerjee has since claimed the support of 65 of the 80 MLAs, and only a handful of MLAs have remained loyal to the Trinamool Congress.
The party is facing a split with 20 of its 28 Lok Sabha MPs deciding to merge with the little known National Citizens Party of India (NCPI), and support the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
On Saturday (June 20, 2026), Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has led the rebel camp of MPs, told media persons that the group would take legal steps against Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra for claiming that the rebel MPs had taken pecuniary gains for switching sides.
Ms. Moitra, who met Ms. Mamata Banerjee on Saturday (June 20, 2026), said anyone was welcome to lodge complaints against her. She claimed that the MPs who had won on the Trinamool ticket and used party funds for their campaign should explain why they were aligning with the BJP now.
Published – June 20, 2026 11:03 pm IST
