Twenty TMC Lok Sabha MPs merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and allegedly planned to join the BJP, while three TMC Rajya Sabha MPs have already joined the BJP.
According to a report by PTI, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, one of the rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders who merged with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), claimed that 17 of the 20 TMC MPs would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in October. Basunia asserted that since more than two-thirds of the 20 members will be moving, the anti-defection law will not apply to them.
However, Samik Bhattacharya, the BJP’s West Bengal unit chief, denied these claims, stating that no one from TMC or NCPI is joining the BJP. He added that the BJP would not take in anyone ‘merely because they want to join it’.
Basunia further stated that Abu Taher Khan, Khalilur Rahaman, and Yusuf Pathan would extend support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but would not formally join the BJP. They might be given important responsibilities or portfolios, said Basunia.
Satabdi Roy, another rebel MP, clarified that Basunia had made the remarks in his personal capacity. The TMC has been beset by internal divisions and rebellions after it lost the Assembly elections to the BJP in May. Nearly 60 out of the TMC’s 80 MLAs have rebelled against the party leadership.
In June, twenty of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs announced a merger with the NCPI and have been supporting the NDA in the Lower House of Parliament. The Nationalist Citizens Party of India did not have any MPs before this merger.
Ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament in July, the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accepted the request of the rebel MPs to sit separately in the Lok Sabha. However, the group is yet to be recognised as the Nationalist Citizens Party of India in the House.
After the rebel MPs merged with the BJP, TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee had submitted petitions to Birla demanding that they be disqualified on the grounds of leaving the party. He argued that the 10th Schedule of the Constitution was clear that if a member voluntarily gives up the party’s membership, they are to be disqualified as MPs.
Source:
Scroll.in
