Trinamool Congress, which faced a crushing defeat in the West Bengal elections, is currently going through a deep crisis of survival. This crisis deepened when on Sunday a group of 20 rebel TMC MPs announced their merger with the unknown party Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). Not only this, he also met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and requested for separate seating arrangements in the House. Now the news is that after the announcement of merger, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has also started work on it.
Sources say that the Lok Sabha Secretariat has started its process on the petition of 20 rebel TMC MPs to merge with NCPI. It is being told that this process is likely to be completed in the next 5 to 7 days. The internal committee of the secretariat is investigating the petition. Legal experts are also included in this committee.
It is being told that Speaker Om Birla will take a decision on this after the committee's report comes. According to sources, a decision on this petition can be taken according to Para 4 (2) of the 10th Schedule. According to this, if any political party merges itself with another party, the membership of its MLAs or MPs will be safe. However, for this it is mandatory to have two-thirds figure.
In the case of rebel TMC MPs, 20 out of 28 Lok Sabha MPs on Sunday filed a petition to merge with the unknown party NPCI, which is more than two-thirds. In such a situation, the Speaker can approve their merger and also give them recognition. In this way his Lok Sabha membership will be safe.
Besides, his seat in the Lok Sabha can also be changed. He currently sits on the benches of opposition MPs, which can be changed to the ruling party because he has also said about supporting the NDA.
On the other hand, Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party leader and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee requested the Lok Sabha Speaker not to give any recognition to this breakaway faction.
On the other hand, Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandopadhyay said that the rebel group will also fight in the court to get recognition as the real Trinamool Congress and will stake its claim for the party's election symbol.
Earlier, after meeting the Speaker, TMC's rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that 20 Trinamool Congress MPs have signed the report submitted to Om Birla. He said, "Two-thirds of TMC's Lok Sabha MPs have given a letter to the Speaker to recognize us as a separate faction. We are merging ourselves with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and will support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)."
