Bengal Suspended Tmc Mla Humayun Kabir Offers Rejinagar Seat To Mamata Banerjee

Suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Humayun Kabir on Thursday offered one of the two Assembly seats won by his newly formed party to Mamata Banerjee, amid speculation that the TMC chief may contest an Assembly or Lok Sabha bypoll to counter the post-poll crisis following the party’s defeat in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections.

Kabir said he was willing to vacate the Rejinagar seat in Murshidabad district if Banerjee decided to contest from there. “I won from Nowda and Rejinagar. If Mamata Banerjee personally approaches me then I can let her contest from Rejinagar and also ensure her victory. Humayun Kabir says the final word at Rejinagar,” Kabir said.

Some TMC leaders said that ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party won 207 of Bengal’s 294 seats, compared with the TMC’s 80, Banerjee — who lost to Suvendu Adhikari for the second time — had been considering contesting either an Assembly or a Lok Sabha seat to return as a people’s representative.

A TMC leader, requesting anonymity, told HT that the issue was discussed internally, but the Rejinagar seat did not feature in those talks.

Kabir was suspended in December 2025 for laying the foundation stone of a mosque modelled on Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid. He said in May that he would represent Nowda and let the Election Commission hold a bypoll in Rejinagar.

“Mamata Banerjee is one of the senior leaders of this country. I will be happy to help her return to the assembly again,” Kabir said on Thursday, two months after the TMC released a video clip alleging that it proved Kabir was in touch with BJP leaders and mobilising Muslim votes against the TMC in exchange for ₹1,000 crore. Kabir rubbished the charges, saying the audio was AI-generated.

TMC leaders said North 24 Parganas district’s Basirhat Lok Sabha seat is on their radar since it has remained vacant following the death of TMC MP Haji Nurul Islam in September 2024.

“The by-election has not been announced in 20 months. In the recent assembly polls, BJP won only two of the seven assembly seats in the Basirhat Lok Sabha segment. The top leadership will make the decision, but winning this bypoll would be extremely difficult because of the sharp polarisation we have witnessed,” a senior TMC leader said, requesting anonymity.

TMC leaders said they had also toyed with the idea of Banerjee contesting from Murshidabad district’s Berhampore seat, which former cricketer Yusuf Pathan won after defeating Congress veteran Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in 2024. However, Pathan was not comfortable with the idea of resigning mid-term, they said.

HT tried to contact Pathan on Thursday, but his phone remained unreachable.

Tanmay Chatterjee has spent more than three decades covering regional and national politics, internal security, intelligence, defence and corruption. He also plans and edits special features on subjects ranging from elections to festivals.Read More