Overview
- A large police team searched Abhishek Banerjee’s Kolkata residence in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday that lasted several hours, while the Enforcement Directorate carried out multi-location raids linked to MLA Madan Mitra in a money‑laundering probe.
- Rebel leaders reported that veteran MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay joined their group on Saturday, bringing their claimed strength to 20 of the party’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs, and they plan to meet Speaker Om Birla on Monday to seek recognition as a separate parliamentary group.
- Abhishek Banerjee has been questioned by the West Bengal CID in an alleged forged‑signature case and the Calcutta High Court has given him interim protection from coercive action while ordering him to cooperate with investigators.
- The dissidents say they would be willing to support the BJP‑led NDA, but anti‑defection law makes legal protection conditional on at least two‑thirds of a party’s legislators agreeing to a merger, a threshold that determines whether MPs face disqualification.
- Coverage highlights two competing narratives: several outlets report the raids and resignations as evidence of a deep political split within the TMC, while party leaders call the actions selective targeting and officials say investigators are following due process.