TMC rebels MPs with Speaker (Img: Google)
New Delhi: Claiming the support of 20 of the 28 Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MPs, the party’s rebel MPs, not only announced their merger with a north-east regional party called Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), but also met Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla and sought separate seating arrangement in the House. This clearly indicates, that the TMC rebels appear to be trying to buy time with this merger before launching a bid for the status of “Real TMC”.
Before the rebel MPs met the Speaker, the original Mamata Bannerjee group MPs –Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghosh—met Speaker and urged him not to accord any recognition, status, or facility to any purported separate group or faction of the TMC. They have submitted a letter in this regard, written by Abhishek Banerjee.
The Rebel MPs decision to merge with the NCPI appears to be an attempt to avoid attracting the provisions of the anti-defection law. Under paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule, disqualification on the grounds of defection is not applicable in case of a merger. The merger of the original political party of a member of a House is deemed to have taken place. “if and only if, not less than two thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger”.
Among the rebel MPs, who met Speaker Om Birla, include Kakoli Ghosh, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Satabdi Roy, Sayooni Ghosh, June Malia, Yusuf Pathan and many others. The rebel MPs went into a huddle at the official residence of Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, who was the BJP’s Bengal poll in charge , before proceeding to meet the Speaker at his residence.
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The rebels claimed “ we have merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India… it is a recognized regional party. When you leave with two-thirds of the party, you cannot demand the name of that party on the first day itself… In July, when Parliament restarts , we will make a demand to give us Trinamul since we have two-thirds majority. Then the Court will decide”, said Bandopadhyay. On the other hand , another rebel leader, Ritabrata Bannerjee, who has been recognized as the Leader of the Opposition in Bengal assembly , told media that the process to take over the political party was also underway.
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However, the TMC leadership has cited a 2023 judgement of the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench on the Maharastra political crisis which held that a political party and the legislature party are different entities and that protection under paragraph 4 requires a valid merger involving original political party as well.
