TMC's Koel Mallick resigns from Rajya Sabha, becomes 4th MP to sever ties with Mamata

New Delhi/Kolkata, Jul 16 (PTI) Actor-turned-politician and Trinamool Congress MP Rukmini Mallick, popularly known as Koel Mallick, on Thursday resigned from the Rajya Sabha, the fourth TMC MP to do so ever since the Mamata Banerjee-led party was ousted from power in West Bengal. Mallick met the Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrishnan and put in her papers. "Shrimati Rukmini Mallik, an elected Member of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), representing the state of West Bengal, resigned her seat in the Rajya Sabha and her resignation has been accepted by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha w.e.f. 16 July, 2026," a Rajya Sabha notification later said. Her resignation dealt a fresh blow to the embattled TMC's strength in the Upper House, reducing it to the single-digit figure of nine, amid speculations that more from the party may follow suit and raising fresh questions on the party’s stability in Parliament. "I do hereby resign from the membership of Rajya Sabha, which may please be accepted with immediate effect," she said in her resignation letter. Mallick’s departure came in the wake of three former TMC MPs — Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev, and Prakash Chik Baraik — who defected to the BJP following TMC’s poll debacle in Bengal and the subsequent widespread rebellion in party ranks, and received Rajya Sabha bypoll tickets for the vacant seats. Interestingly, following the footsteps of some of the earlier TMC rebels in Parliament, Mallick, too, met BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav in Delhi after quitting as MP, fuelling the buzz on whether the actor would join the saffron party or choose to move over to the dissident MPs. Mallick, one of TMC’s celebrity nominees to the Rajya Sabha, was picked by Mamata Banerjee in February. She had submitted her nomination on March 5, alongside Supreme Court lawyer Menaka Guruswamy and former IPS officer Rajeev Kumar. She, however, did not attend a single sitting of the Parliament. One of Bengal's best-known film stars and the daughter of veteran actor Ranjit Mallick, Koel entered active politics only a month before being nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Her nomination was viewed as part of Banerjee’s practice of bringing prominent public figures into Parliament. “This is a new phase of my life, and I seek everyone’s blessings for the responsibility I am about to shoulder. Serving the people and the country was in my mind for some time, and I am fortunate to have received that opportunity,” she had said after filing her nomination. In January, during a highly charged political atmosphere in Bengal, TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had visited the Mallick residence with his party’s performance report card, as part of his pre-poll celebrity outreach strategy. “All I have to say is I like him very much,” Ranjit Mallick had certified Abhishek following a warm embrace of greeting. Political observers have linked Koel's exit to the broader churn within the party after its loss of power in Bengal. Besides the Rajya Sabha, the party’s strength in Lok Sabha, too, has shrunk drastically after 20 rebel MPs – most of whom like Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Kakali Ghosh Dastidar were long-time associates of Banerjee – broke away from the TMC to merge with the lesser-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and pledged support to the BJP-led NDA. Closer home, the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction of the party has escalated the battle for Trinamool's identity by consolidating rebel ranks, inducting senior leaders, and pressing for his claim as the party's legitimate leadership. The growing desertions – which include top leaders and former Mamata-loyalists like Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas and, the most recent, Madan Mitra –have mounted pressure on the Banerjee-led "Kalighat Trinamool", turning the internal split into a direct political challenge. “Koel Mallick is not an organic political leader. She gained lateral entry into politics in the wake of her proximity to the TMC’s top leadership. Shortly afterwards, we saw her getting nominated to Rajya Sabha. She was nowhere to be found after she became an MP," BJP Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya said, responding to the development. “We are happy to see her resurface now and wanting to sever ties with Mamata Banerjee,” he said. Bhattacharya maintained that Mamata Banerjee’s party has lost all credibility among the people. “The TMC, which was never a political party to begin with, is now finished. There’s no point in discussing a party that has lost all relevance among people. Those TMC leaders who are desperately trying to change shirts and whose backgrounds stand exposed are also being closely monitored by the people,” he added. TMC MP and Mamata loyalist Kalyan Banerjee called the spate of exits “a new tactic adopted by the BJP to increase their strength in both Houses of the Parliament by any means possible”. “Earlier, three members resigned, but Koel Mallick did not resign with them. Had all four resigned together, the Rajya Sabha election for all four vacancies would have been held simultaneously, and the BJP would not have won in one seat. That is why the resignations were staggered,” he maintained. “After the Rajya Sabha elections got over, Koel Mallick was brought in because there is now a single fresh vacancy. It is a safe political strategy for the BJP,” he added. Stating that the party was aware of Koel meeting Bhupendra Yadav and that she might join the saffron camp, Banerjee said such a “tactic” cut a sorry picture of the state of political affairs in Bengal. West Bengal has long been respected across the country for its education, culture, and political tradition, he said, adding the state has sent many distinguished parliamentarians who were driven by commitment to their parties, dedication to the people, and the courage to fight for their interests. “Looking at the number of MPs and MLAs who have defected to the BJP over the past two months presents a dirty picture of Bengal’s political culture. It is for the people of the state to decide whether this is right or wrong,” he said. PTI SKC VN SMY NN