Mamata Banerjee, who founded TMC in 1998, is seeing her party breaking away, as around 60 TMC MLAs have formed a separate faction while 20 rebel TMC MPs have sought to join the BJP-led NDA. Another setback came when former TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray resigned from Rajya Sabha and party. TMC leader Firhad Hakim also resigned as Kolkata Mayor.