'Not joining BJP or floating any party': Abhishek Banerjee dismisses rumours of his split from TMC

Abhishek, who is also the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, claimed he was also not crossing over to the primary opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while addressing the TMC workers at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Thursday.

"Rumours are being spread that Abhishek Banerjee is going to the BJP. I will support Mamata Banerjee even if I get killed. I am not a traitor," said Abhishek.

"Rumours are also spread that a new party is set to be floated. Some media and journalists are doing this. Whatever people watch on news channels are untrue. Please do not trust the media," the TMC MP from Diamond Harbour constituency added.

Reports of Abhishek's distance from Mamata Banerjee have been doing the rounds for quite some time now.

Mamata fuelled the speculations of a power struggle in the leadership after she, as reports claim, instructed her party leaders to follow her command strictly and sacked Abhishek's close aides from ranks in one of her previous meetings.

The Chief Minister had also asked her leaders to avoid the political aide I-PAC, an organisation which was brought into the TMC's functioning by Abhishek soon after the party suffered a setback in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

However, Mamata took a complete U-turn on Thursday instructing her party workers to cooperate with I-PAC completely in the run up to the 2026 assembly elections.