Mamata meets Sonia: Poll setbacks, hugs and old fault lines in Congress-TMC ties explained

Mamata meets Sonia: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her residence in the national capital on Tuesday, 9 June.

The meeting came a day after the two leaders met and exhanged hugs at the INDIA bloc meeting in Constitution club. Among the many images from the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi on 8 June, the one that drew the most attention was a warm hug between Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee.

The photograph on Monday and a meeting a day later offers a striking visual contrast to the often-fraught relationship between the Congress and the TMC. The renewed bonhomie between the two leaders was prominently featured on the TMC's social media accounts as well.

This also comes at a time when Mamata Banerjee-led TMC is facing its most serious internal crisis in recent times, with reports of high-profile resignations and growing dissent in both the Bengal Assembly and Parliament

“The smiles said what words could not...a bond strengthened through decades of dedicated service to the nation. Our Hon'ble Chairperson with Sonia Gandhi Ji, today in Delhi,” read the X post of TMC after the two leaders met on Monday..

At the meeting on Monday, Mamata was seen seated to the right of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul Gandhi sat to the left of Kharge, the INDIA bloc convener.

Just a few months ago, during the campaign for the West Bengal Assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi had launched scathing attacks on Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of heading a "corrupt" government and helping create political space for the BJP.

At the same time, other INDIA bloc leaders, including Tejashwi Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav, publicly backed Mamata Banerjee, underscoring the contradictions and competing political interests within the opposition alliance.

Political observers had then said the Opposition’s show of support for Mamata Banerjee should serve as a cautionary tale for Rahul Gandhi. This, they said, because the INDIA bloc remains functional but the Congress appears increasingly sidelined within.

“This was not smart politics, this is the time when he was not supposed to speak. He’s being naive, he’s ill-advised; Congress has only 99 [Lok Sabha] MPs right now, they can’t afford to sever ties with all regional players,” Rasheed Kidwai, a political analyst and author had told The Print in April this year.

Rivals in West Bengal

The bonhomie between the Congress and the TMC at the national level, even as they remain rivals in West Bengal, is nothing new. What makes the latest display of warmth noteworthy, however, is its timing.

Mamata Banerjee's TMC lost the assembly election, the results of which were announced on 4 May. Congress won two seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Bengal for the first time since Independence thus ending Mamata's 15-year tenure as chief minister.

The optics of Opposition unity on Monday, however, contrasted sharply with developments within the TMC. While Mamata Banerjee was attending the INDIA bloc meeting at Delhi's Constitution Club , signs of unrest surfaced in Parliament, with a group of around 20 TMC MPs reportedly reaching out to the BJP.

The TMC has 28 members in the Lok Sabha at present; the rebels would need a two-thirds bloc of 19 to avoid disqualification. The revolt in Delhi comes days after a similar rebellion in Bengal assembly, where 58 of the TMC's 80 MLAs have backed expelled rebel Ritabrata Banerjee, who has become Leader of the Opposition over the official nominee.

Who destroyed INDIA bloc?

Just ahead of the INDIA bloc meeting, senior Janata Dal (United) leader, Sanjay Jha blamed two former chief ministers for the collapse of cohesion within the Opposition's INDIA bloc. Mamata Banerjee was one of them, according to Jha.

Jha, JD(U) working president, alleged that Mamata had a role in derailing a consensus plan to appoint former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the alliance's convener in 2023. Nitish Kumar was part of INDIA bloc till he switched to the BJP in January 2024.

“Two people destroyed the India Bloc alliance — I am on record: their names are Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal,” Jha told Indian Express said when asked to respond to what happened in the India Bloc's first meeting in Patna hosted in 2023 by the then Bihar CM and JD (U) President Nitish Kumar.

Congress TMC ties

The Congress-TMC relationship has been complicated ever since Mamata Banerjee broke away from the Congress in 1998 and founded the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC)

At the heart of this complicated relationship is Mamata Banerjee herself. Before she became Bengal's dominant political force, she was one of the Congress's most recognisable leaders in the state. For many years that followed, the Congress and the TMC fought for the same anti-Left voters.

In between, Mamata also aligned with the BJP-led NDA while Congress remained firmly in the opposition. However, the Congress and the TMC joined forces in 2011. The alliance succeeded. The Left's 34-year rule came to an end and Mamata Banerjee became chief minister for the first time.

But as the TMC grew stronger, Congress found itself increasingly squeezed out of Bengal's political space. In Delhi, the two parties often found themselves on the same side of the political divide, particularly when opposition unity against the BJP became a priority. In Bengal, however, they remained fierce competitors.

The INDIA bloc, formed in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, brought Congress and the TMC into a single national camp. But disagreement over seat-sharing finally prompted Mamata Banerjee to contest on her own in Bengal.

What it means for Congress?

The latest visible bonhomie with the TMC comes at a time when the Congress party is battling its own stuggles, especially after it formally broke ties with the MK Stalin-led DMK following the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and pledged support to actor Vijay's TVK government.

Earlier too, Sonia and Mamata exchanged political embraces.

In April 2015, for example, Sonia Gandhi hugging then then West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a chance encounter in the Central Hall of Parliament House had became talking point, much like what happened on Monday. Yet, the relations between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress remained as complicated as ever.

Kharge bats for unity

In his opening remarks at the INDIA bloc meeting on Monday, Kharge urged opposition leaders to strengthen unity to confront the political, economic, social and foreign policy challenges facing the country due to the Modi government's "misgovernance".

"On April 17, 2026, we demonstrated our unity and solidarity in the Lok Sabha in a very decisive manner, when we all came together firmly to defeat the Modi government's malicious bills on delimitation.

"Now we must strengthen that same spirit even further and move forward, so that we can confront the many political, economic, social, and foreign policy challenges facing the country due to the Modi government's misgovernance," Kharge said at the start of the meeting.

So, as Opposition parties discuss coordination against the BJP and chalk out a common strategy on key national issues, what remains to be seen is whether the Congress and the TMC can bury their differences and help each other to tide over the crisis.