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TMC’s collapse does not suit BJP—because the Left is waiting in Bengal

The Falta bypoll result has brought the Left back into conversation. After BJP candidate Debangshu Panda, CPM-backed candidate Shambhu Nath Kurmi came second. The TMC was in fourth position.

The May 2026 West Bengal Assembly poll results are a slap on the face of those who swore by the secret ‘Modi-Didi setting’ theory. 

According to the proponents of this theory, propounded not just in neighbourhood tea stalls but in highfalutin opinion pieces on Bengal’s current politics, the BJP had only done shadowboxing in West Bengal and was never serious about removing the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government from power.  

With the BJP besting the TMC by a wide margin of 207-80, the “setting” theory was proved wrong. What is interesting, though, is that the BJP may not want the TMC to implode after such a decisive defeat, even as several of its elected leaders want to jump ship. A total collapse of the party could revive the Left parties—which would mean mainstreaming of an ideology that not just the BJP, but the Sangh Parivar has fought tooth and nail against for decades. 

The once-formidable TMC is facing an existential crisis after losing the Assembly elections to the BJP. Saumitra Khan, a BJP MP, has told the press that as many as 50 Trinamool MLAs and 20 MPs were unhappy and were ready to switch to the BJP if the central leadership gave the go-ahead. Khan said the TMC would cease to exist as a political force if the BJP leadership decided to induct these leaders. 

An India Today report said nearly 100 TMC councillors from different........

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