Who is Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the heavyweight MP who dumped TMC more than once

While several MPs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) decided to dump Mamata Banerjee to join a new platform called the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), none perhaps has shocked the observers more than Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the oldest in the lot.

Born in Berhampore in Murshidabad district of West Bengal on January 6, 1949, Bandyopadhyay studied in Krishnanath College in Berhampore and completed graduation in science from Calcutta University in 1970. He became an MLA for the first time in 1987, when he contested on a Congress ticket from the now-defunct Bowbazar Assembly constituency in Kolkata. His wife, Nayna Bandyopadhyay, is a former actor and currently a TMC MLA in Bengal.

The six-time MP and four-time MLA before that, Bandyopadhyay was the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha between 2011 and August last year. He joined the TMC when it was formed in 1998, leaving the Congress, where he had been since the 1970s. He left the TMC to return to the Congress in 2004 but returned in 2008.

Bandyopadyay dumps TMC for the second time

His latest move to the NCPI means his connections with the TMC ended once again, this time after a gap of 18 years. With the rebels expressing their intent to back the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Bandyopadhyay’s career is set to progress towards a new direction now.

Also read: TMC pushed to the brink in LS as veteran MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay joins rebels

While Bandyopadhyay’s U-turns are well-scripted in history, and many in the TMC, who did not want him to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, have called him an opportunist, mocking even his wig, saying it "came off" just as his mask.

The move by the MP, who has been representing Kolkata Uttar for several decades now (2024 was believed to be his final Lok Sabha election had he stayed in the TMC), is a massive blow for Mamata, for whom he remained a trusted aide all these years. He has already met Union Ministers Amit Shah and Bhupender Yadav amid the rebel MPs’ hectic parleys. But this is not the first time that a possibility of an understanding between Bandyopadhyay and the lotus party has been seen.

BJP eyed Bandyopadhyay in Vajpayee era: Report

Senior journalist Jayanta Ghosal wrote in a piece for NDTV that the BJP sought Bandyopadhyay during the years of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The reason is that the seasoned politician has been one of the TMC’s strongest MPs. He has served as the party’s chief whip in the Lower House, been a member of various parliamentary committees and also a junior minister in the second United Progressive Alliance government of former prime minister Manmohan Singh till the TMC pulled out in 2012.

The leader is known for his deep knowledge of parliamentary procedures, takes an active part in parliamentary debates and also harbours interests in matters like culture and music.

Also read: How 'obscure' NCPI went against own poll slogan to welcome TMC rebels

When the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of Vajpayee was in office (1998-2004), the BJP was trying to expand beyond the Hindi belt. Targeting West Bengal, which was a challenging territory for the saffron camp then, the party believed poaching Bandyopadhyay could weaken the TMC in the state and facilitate its expansion plan. This, despite the fact that Mamata had a cordial relationship with Vajpayee.

Bandyopadhyay, however, chose not to join the BJP then, the NDTV article said.

It also referred to the political situation in Bengal’s neighbour Odisha, then. Naveen Patnaik, who was the chief minister of that state then, backed the NDA then. Internal differences emerged in Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal, hurting his popularity. LK Advani, then No.2 in the NDA government, believed something similar could happen in the TMC, too, the senior journalist wrote in his piece. The TMC was yet to come to power in Bengal then.

Mamata was also facing some resistance in her own party around the same time. The BJP expected that pressure tactics and alliance-engineering could lead to a split in the TMC, and Bandyopadhyay, who is senior to the supremo, could play a key role in the scheme of things, the piece said.

Advani had invited Bandyopadhyay for dinner: Report

Bandyopadhay was invited to meet BJP leaders, the article said. He said Advani even invited the TMC leader with Satabdi Roy, another rebel TMC rebel who joined the NCPI but was a newcomer then, for dinner. However, these efforts did not eventually succeed in attracting Bandyopadhyay to the BJP. He went to the Congress in 2004 over differences with Mamata.

But why did Bandyopadhyay choose this time to jump the ship?

According to the senior journalist, one explanation is that the soft-spoken leader understands the proportion of the current crisis in the TMC has taken. The experienced politician in him perhaps sees the dark clouds looming over the party’s future, given the level of dissatisfaction it is witnessing.

Bandyopadhyay's exit more a psychological blow?

While some feel that Bandyopadhyay is back to his turncoat politics, the BJP would sense a bigger opportunity to corner the TMC even more with the former’s decision to shift base. Bandyopadhyay’s exit from the TMC would leave a psychological impact on the parent party and other members who might not be too clear about what lies next.

Also read: TMC’s double coup and Mamata’s silence: Martyrs’ Day will be her last test

Bandyopadhyay, who was arrested in 2017 by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with a chit fund case, also knows that the mood in the TMC was becoming unfavourable for him. Leaders such as Kunal Ghosh, known to be close to Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee, have been speaking openly against him for some time.

It is also said that Bandyopadhyay did not have the best of ties with Abhishek (he replaced him as the TMC's LS leader in 2025), as the party found itself strained between the old guard and youth-led functioning in recent years.

The veteran has also been accused of doing little for the party. After the Bengal Assembly election results came out on May 4, the TMC’s internal WhatsApp conversations got leaked, in which a local councillor was seen targeting Bandyopadhay, leading to a war of words.

Also read: As TMC crumbles, what's next for Mamata and the state forces she fought over the years?

The veteran was removed as the TMC's president for the North Kolkata organisational district with Kunal taking over the reins.

Septuagenarian Bandyopadhyay perhaps did not have much of a future left in the TMC. As Ghosal said in his piece, “At the age of 77, taking such a major political decision is not a small step. It reflects that he believes the current political situation requires a new calculation.”