TMC Rebel MPs' Merger With NCPI May Be Delayed As Speaker Om Birla To Meet Abhishek Banerjee First

New Delhi: The formal approval for the merger of the rebel faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), comprising 20 MPs, with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) is likely to be delayed after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla decided to meet the TMC leadership before taking a final call.

Speaker seeks views from TMC

The Lok Sabha Secretariat wrote on Monday to TMC MP and Mamata Banerjee's nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the TMC floor leader in the Lok Sabha, regarding a meeting following the latter’s appeal to the Speaker asking him not to recognise any faction of the TMC.

The letter suggested a meeting at 4 pm on Monday, but Banerjee was, at the time, being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). It is likely that the Speaker will meet Banerjee later this week.

“Speaker Om Birla will take a call on the issue of the merger of 20 TMC MPs with NCPI only after hearing both sides. The Speaker’s office has also emailed the TMC led by Mamata Banerjee,” Hindustan Times reported, citing a senior official.

The meeting with the TMC leadership is part of due process but is unlikely to change anything.

Earlier on Sunday, 19 Trinamool MPs met Birla and handed over a letter seeking to merge with NCPI. Another rebel TMC MP, Rachana Banerjee, who was in Malaysia at the time, met the Speaker on Tuesday.

Notably, NCPI doesn't have a single MP/MLA anywhere in the country. If the merger gets approved, the party will become the NDA's second-largest party in the lower house, and the NCPI will also become the fifth-largest party in the Lok Sabha.