20 rebel TMC MPs likely to get new Lok Sabha seats: 'Speaker has assured us'

LOk Sabha talker Om Birla is go under to allot young air division book of numbers or seats to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs who joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) last month, and two of them are set to attend the upcoming all-party meeting ahead of the monsoon session, in what is a de-facto recognition of the controversial merger and the young outfit in Parliament.Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is set to be the chief whip of the NCPI in the Lower House, told HT, “We had met the speaker. He has assured that we will get an office in the Parliament and he will allot us new seats. Our two representatives will attend the all-party meeting on July 19.”Following the electoral debacle of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC in the West Bengal assembly polls, 60 legislators elected on TMC symbol formed a separate outfit in the Bengal assembly. Separately, 20 of the party’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs decided to merge with the NCPI and aligned themselves with the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).Also Read: Amid mass exodus in Trinamool Congress, here's who is still in Team MamataThree of the TMC’s 13 Rajya Sabha members have resigned and are expected to return to the Upper House later this month as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates after bypolls in West Bengal.A formal recognition for the NCPI merger is expected to come ahead of the monsoon session that starts from July 20. A senior official of the Lok Sabha said, “The speaker will take a decision on the two pending applications (of TMC and Sena UBT rebels) soon. Once the decision is taken, the notification will be made public.” Six of the nine Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) Lok Sabha members joined the Shiv Sena last month.According to a rebel TMC leader, the speaker’s office is expected to send a letter soon on the proposed allotment of seats in the House. Some of the rebel leaders have camped in Delhi as they have to approve the new arrangement.Also Read: TMC's latest rebel has formula to reunite Mamata’s party: ‘Oust Abhishek, at least for the time being’The TMC rebels are hopeful after meeting Birla on Monday that the NCPI merger will get the necessary approvals before the monsoon session starts. The decision to allot a new office and new seats is an indication that the merger might get the green flag, said an official.If approved, the merger would elevate the NCPI, which currently has no lawmakers, as the biggest ally of the BJP.There was no immediate response from the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction.Ahead of the session, Sena (UBT) leader Aravind Sawant alleged that the law (10th Schedule) does not permit the merger between the six UBT lawmakers with the Sena.“The Shiv Sena (UBT), the original party, has not and cannot merge with any other party. According to the law, the public representatives have no right to merge on their own without the consent of the parent party. The so-called ‘merger’ claim is completely illegal from a phenomenological point of view. The official role of the party is informed to the concerned MPs through an authorised letter. We have also sent a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in this regard,” he said.The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in the Maharashtra political crisis case — which drew a sharp distinction between a political party and its legislative wing — had argued that no group of members can carve out a parallel faction and claim independent recognition in the House.In the run-up to the session, the NDA can inch closer to the two-thirds majority mark if the speaker approves the mergers.But it will need another 40 MPs’ backing to pass constitution amendment bills.