The rebel TMC MPs who merged with the little-known NCPI have sought two more weeks to respond to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s notices on a petition seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law, even as signs have emerged of a clear rift within the group.
Rift Within Trinamool Rebel Camp? MP Who Led Exodus Skips Group’s Meet
The grouping met in Kolkata on Thursday afternoon to discuss its strategy, but its leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar skipped the meet, which was organised by MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay at a hotel in Kolkata. Some could not attend today’s meeting as it was called at two days’ notice. Twenty MPs from Mamata Banerjee’s party had defected and merged with the NCPI to support the ruling NDA in Parliament after the Trinamool’s defeat in the Assembly polls. There has been speculation about a rift within the rebel bloc. The rumours have been further fuelled by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar skipping the meeting. NDTV has learnt that the MPs who attended the meeting include Jagadish Basunia, Abu Taher Khan, Bapi Haldar, Sharmila Sarkar, Khalilur Rahman, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Shatabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee and Arup Chakraborty. Rachana Banerjee also spoke about seeking additional time to reply to the Speaker. It was a mutual decision”. All is well. The number of our MPs will increase. There is no rift among us. Kakoli di is our Chief Whip. parliamentary records continue to list them as TMC members While the rebels have sought recognition as a separate political entity in the Lok Sabha. The Speaker’s office has also not formally recognised them as a separate parliamentary party, although they were given separate seating arrangements ahead of the Monsoon Session.
Because of some family problems”, she is with us, but she could not make it today. When asked about many MPs skipping the meeting, Rachana Banerjee said: “All 20 MPs are together. The disqualification proceedings stem from petitions filed by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on June 18, after 20 of the party’s 27 Lok Sabha MPs broke ranks with the Mamata Banerjee-led organisation and joined the NCPI, extending support to the BJP-led NDA.
NCPI MP Rachana Banerjee, however, downplayed the meeting, calling it “just a pre-puja get-together”. But sources said the issue of seeking an extension to reply to the Lok Sabha Speaker was on the agenda. actor-turned-MP Rachana Banerjee said, “It’s just a pre-puja meeting, we wanted to catch up and discuss some of the issues” While speaking to NDTV. She said, “That is the party policy.
