Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar resigned from the post of president of the party’s Barasat organisational district unit on Sunday, taking “moral responsibility” for the party’s poor performance in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections. Her resignation has intensified discussions over growing internal unrest within the All India Trinamool Congress after its electoral setback in the state.
In her resignation letter addressed to state party president Subrata Bakshi, Dastidar reportedly admitted that the party failed to meet expectations in the Barasat parliamentary segment, where the BJP secured five out of the seven Assembly seats. The Trinamool Congress managed to retain only two seats in the constituency, marking a significant decline in what was once considered one of its strongholds.
The four-time Lok Sabha MP, regarded as one of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s long-time loyalists, also appeared to criticise the increasing influence of political consultancy firm I-PAC within the party’s organisational functioning. She urged the leadership to return to “street politics” and grassroots mobilisation, which she said had once been the party’s core strength.
Her resignation comes only days after she was removed from the post of Trinamool Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha and replaced by senior MP Kalyan Banerjee. Political observers view these developments as signs of increasing friction within the party following its defeat in the 2026 Assembly elections, which ended the Trinamool Congress’s 15-year rule in West Bengal.
Dastidar also reportedly expressed concern over the “criminalisation” of politics within sections of the party organisation. Though she has not resigned from the Trinamool Congress or from Parliament, her move has triggered speculation about widening cracks among senior leaders in the party’s old guard.
A medical doctor by profession, Dastidar has represented the Barasat Lok Sabha constituency since 2009 and remains one of the prominent faces of the party in North 24 Parganas.
