After the rebellion in TMC, the Lok Sabha Speaker will talk to both the sides. 20 rebel MPs have claimed to merge with NCPI to avoid disqualification. TMC has called this merger illegal, on which the Speaker will take the final decision.
New Delhi: Amidst the tussle within Trinamool Congress (TMC), Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has now called both the parties for talks. The Speaker’s Office has sent letters to both the official leadership of the party and the rebel MPs. The Speaker will take a decision on the merger only after listening to the arguments of Mamata Banerjee’s camp and the rebels.
The political drama of Bengal became more heated when the rebel MPs who had left TMC simultaneously announced to join NCPI. There are indications that many more leaders may join the rebel group. Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee’s close aide and Kolkata Port MLA Firhad Hakim was seen at an event with BJP leader and Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Mamata’s brother-in-law, who is a counselor, was also present at the event. The rebel group has decided to make Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar the president of NCPI. He has also told that the information about 20 MPs joining NCPI has been given to the Election Commission. However, TMC alleges that the NCPI party which the rebels have joined is not even registered.
In fact, the rebel MPs could not get permission to sit as a separate group in the Lok Sabha. After this, to avoid disqualification, he decided to merge with an unknown party named NCPI. The rebels say that their membership will be saved if two-thirds of the MPs merge with another party. But legal experts believe that this alone will not prevent his disqualification.
Senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and Manu Abhishek Singhvi have also clarified that according to the law, to avoid disqualification, merger of not just the MPs but two-thirds of the party members is necessary. Based on this argument, Mamata camp of TMC is taunting the rebels. He says that BJP has also closed the doors for the rebels and they are being treated only as guests.