Rebel TMC MPs announce merger with regional party NCPI, to back NDA

The crisis in the Trinamool Congress deepened on Sunday as dissident MPs announced their merger with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India and met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking a separate seating arrangement in the House, even as TMC parliamentary party leader Abhishek Banerjee urged Birla not to accord any recognition to the breakaway faction.

Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the rebel faction would also fight in court to be recognised as the real TMC and will stake claim to its poll symbol.

Speaking to reporters after their meeting with Birla, rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said 20 TMC MPs had signed a representation submitted to the Speaker.

"Two-thirds of TMC MPs have given a letter to the Speaker for a separate seating arrangement. We will merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party and support the NDA," she said.

The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) is a Tripura-based registered unrecognised party that does not enjoy any significant political presence. It had contested from three seats in the 2023 Tripura polls, with its candidates finishing either behind NOTA or securing only a few votes more.

According to the dissident camp, the Speaker verified the signatures of the 20 MPs who backed the representation.

"We have merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party," Bandyopadhyay told reporters.

Asked about the competing claim of the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, he said the issue of who constituted the "real TMC" would be decided by the courts.

"This is the system. When you leave with 2/3rd of the party, you cannot demand the name of that party on the first day itself... In July, we will make a demand to give us Trinamool. Then the court will decide," he said.

"Court will decide later who is the real TMC. We met the Speaker and gave him our request. We will have a separate block in the next Lok Sabha session," Bandyopadhyay said, adding that they will also claim TMC's electoral symbol.

MP Satabdi Roy said they will take a call on their next step at the "right time".

She also said they did not claim the party symbol in the meeting with the Speaker, and added that Speaker will take a final call.

The dissident MPs met Union minister Bhupender Yadav at his house before meeting the Speaker. Later, the legislators had dinner at the Banga Bhawan in Delhi.

Meanwhile, TMC MPs Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghose also submitted a letter to Birla on Sunday from Abhishek Banerjee urging him not to accord any recognition, status or facility to any purported separate faction, arguing that the Constitution and anti-defection law do not permit the formation of a separate group within an existing political party.

The letter dated June 10 had earlier been sent to the Speaker through email.

In the letter, Abhishek Banerjee requested that the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) be treated as a single political party represented in the House only through its duly authorised leader and whip and that the party be given an opportunity to present its case before any decision is taken on any communication from dissident MPs.

Citing the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench judgment in the Maharashtra political crisis case, Banerjee argued that the defence of a "split" is no longer available under the Tenth Schedule and that the legal framework contemplates identification of one political party, not recognition of rival factions within it.

After meeting the Speaker on Sunday, Azad said the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench had made it clear that a split within a political party was impermissible, while Ghose said the TMC was an "indivisible" party and the Constitution did not permit the formation of a separate group within the Lok Sabha.

Senior TMC MP Sougata Roy ridiculed the rebels' decision to merge with the NCPI, questioning both its political relevance and the dissidents' ability to justify the move before voters.

"Once you betray the party on whose symbol you were elected, how will you face your constituents? This merger is ridiculous. Who knows NCPI? Can they go to their constituencies and tell people that they are now part of NCPI? This merger reflects the desperation of the traitors to please their BJP masters," Roy told PTI.

Alleging that the move had the tacit backing of the BJP, Roy said the dissident MPs had chosen the NCPI route only because parliamentary rules do not permit the recognition of a separate bloc within an existing party.

On the "merger" by the rebel MPs, TMC MLA Madan Mitra said it showed their dishonesty.

"All MPs contested polls as TMC leaders, merging with other party reflects 'dishonesty'... The number required to form a separate party cannot be met with such a small group. There is still a long process ahead. Let us see how things unfold. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee will decide on further legal action," he said in Kolkata.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal said the rebel MPs should be disqualified.

"Will merge with Nationalist Citizens Party (NCP)... Indian Democracy has become the "theatre of the absurd". A joke !" Sibal said in a post on X.

"The rebels of the TMC legislative party cannot merge with a political party; that can happen only if the TMC wished to do so! Disqualify them!" he said.

The battle for control of the TMC is being fought simultaneously in Parliament and the West Bengal Assembly.

Last week, 64 of the party's 80 MLAs broke away and secured recognition as a separate legislative formation, with Ritabrata Banerjee being recognised as the Leader of Opposition.

That decision has been challenged by the Mamata Banerjee-led party before the Calcutta High Court.