Parliament buzz: Trinamool rebels demand distinct benches after meeting Speaker
New Delhi, June 14: Amidst the ongoing turmoil in the All India Trinamool Congress, all the rebel MPs of the party met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at his residence on Sunday and submitted a letter demanding separate seats in the House. With this, all the rebel MPs have decided to merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party.
After meeting the Lok Sabha Speaker, rebel Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar told the media that 20 MPs elected from the All India Trinamool Congress have submitted a letter to the Speaker seeking permission to sit separately in the Lok Sabha.
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that these 20 MPs constitute more than two-thirds of the party’s total parliamentary strength. She said that all the MPs together have decided to merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party. He said, “We will work in the national interest and will continue to cooperate closely with the Prime Minister-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).”
The rebel MPs have taken this step to avoid the anti-defection law. This decision is a strategy to save their membership.
It is noteworthy that the Nationalist Citizens Party is primarily a regional political party based in Tripura. Its political base is considered to be in the northeastern states, particularly Tripura, Assam, and some areas of West Bengal. It is not a large or nationally mainstream party, but rather a small and less well-known party. The rebel MPs chose this party to overcome the legal hurdles of the anti-defection law. Since parliamentary rules prohibit direct recognition of a separate faction in the House, and doing so risks losing membership, merging with a parent party was legally mandatory to save membership. After this merger, the rebel faction will pledge its support to the BJP-led NDA coalition at the center under a new technical and legal framework.
