How one of India's most successful female politicians is losing her party

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: How one of India's most successful female politicians is losing her party15 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleSoutik BiswasIndia correspondentNurPhoto via Getty ImagesMamata Banerjee has dismissed a rebellion by legislators as opportunistic and vowed to bounce backPolitical parties usually survive defeat. What they often struggle to survive is the sudden loss of power. That is the predicament facing the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party in West Bengal, a state of more than 100 million people in eastern India.

Barely a month after being voted out of office, the party is facing a rebellion by most of its legislators, a potential split among its MPs and growing doubts about the authority of its founder, Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee is no ordinary regional leader. In 2011 the firebrand politician achieved what many thought impossible, ending 34 uninterrupted years of Communist rule in West Bengal and dismantling one of the world's longest-serving elected left-wing governments.

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Time magazine later named her among the world's 100 most influential people. She would go on to govern for 15 years, turning the TMC into India's most successful regional party and herself into one of the country's most formidable opposition politicians. Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesNarendra Modi congratulates Suvendu Adhikari, who became West Bengal's first BJP chief minister last monthWhich is what makes the events of the past month so startling.

Last month Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in West Bengal, ending the TMC's 15-year rule amid a potent mix of anti-incumbency, religious polarisation and controversy surrounding the electoral rolls. Yet Banerjee's party was hardly annihilated. It still won 26 million votes, only about three million fewer than the BJP, and retained roughly 40% of the popular vote.

It remains a substantial political force, with 80 legislators in the state assembly and 28 members of parliament. India's fiercest female politician faces a fight for survivalModi's BJP conquers BengalBy any conventional measure, it should be regrouping after defeat. Instead, it appears to be coming apart.

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The real shock came inside the legislature. Within weeks of the election, roughly three-quarters of the TMC's legislators revolted against both Banerjee and her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, widely seen as her heir. The rebels seized control of the party's legislative wing, installed their own opposition leader and accused the leadership of forging signatures on legislative documents.

What initially appeared to be a state-level mutiny has now spread to Delhi. A reported 20 of the TMC's 28 MPs have now written to the speaker of parliament seeking to break away from the party's parliamentary group and align themselves with the BJP-led ruling alliance. If confirmed, it would elevate the crisis from a legislative revolt to an existential challenge to the party's leadership and unity.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.