Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar resigns from TMC post, blames IPAC for debacle

In a major blow to the Trinamool Congress following its assembly election debacle, veteran leader and Barasat MP Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar resigned from her position as the Barasat organizational district president on Sunday. In a strongly worded letter to State President Subrata Bakshi, she cited "moral responsibility" for the party's poor performance in North 24 Parganas. However, her resignation went beyond mere accountability, as she openly criticized the party's reliance on external agencies and pointed toward systemic corruption as the root cause of the decline.

Dastidar’s exit is marked by a palpable sense of betrayal, particularly directed at the political consultancy agency IPAC. Without naming them directly in her letter but slamming them in a press conference, she described them as a "Bhuifor" (upstart) organization. She lamented how the agency's young staff treated veteran, full-time party workers with disrespect. As a three-time MP and a loyalist of four decades, she expressed disbelief that the party's seat count could plummet so drastically to 80, suggesting that the public has rejected the current internal culture of the TMC.

The resignation follows a series of setbacks for the veteran leader, including her recent removal from the prestigious post of Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha, where she was replaced by Kalyan Banerjee. Clearly aggrieved by this demotion, she took to social media to sarcastically remark that this was her "reward" for 40 years of loyalty. In her final appeal to Mamata Banerjee, she urged the Trinamool supremo to return to the party’s roots by empowering honest, old, and loyal workers rather than relying on external "upstart" entities that lack a connection to the grassroots.

This high-profile resignation highlights the growing internal rift within the Trinamool Congress as it struggles to navigate the aftermath of the 2026 assembly elections. With North 24 Parganas—once a TMC stronghold—slipping away, Dastidar’s public outburst against corruption and the "agency culture" reflects a broader dissatisfaction among the party's old guard. As the BJP consolidates its gains, the TMC faces the daunting task of internal restructuring while dealing with the public grievances aired by its own senior representatives.