Rift Within Trinamool Rebel Camp? MP Who Led Exodus Skips Group's Meet

The rebel TMC MPs who merged with the little-known NCPI have sought two more weeks to respond to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's notices on a petition seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law, even as signs have emerged of a clear rift within the group.

Twenty MPs from Mamata Banerjee's party had defected and merged with the NCPI to support the ruling NDA in Parliament after the Trinamool's defeat in the Assembly polls.

The grouping met in Kolkata on Thursday afternoon to discuss its strategy, but its leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar skipped the meet, which was organised by MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay at a hotel in Kolkata.

There has been speculation about a rift within the rebel bloc. The rumours have been further fuelled by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar skipping the meeting.

NDTV has learnt that the MPs who attended the meeting include Jagadish Basunia, Abu Taher Khan, Bapi Haldar, Sharmila Sarkar, Khalilur Rahman, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Shatabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Rachana Banerjee and Arup Chakraborty.

NCPI MP Rachana Banerjee, however, downplayed the meeting, calling it "just a pre-puja get-together". But sources said the issue of seeking an extension to reply to the Lok Sabha Speaker was on the agenda.

While speaking to NDTV, actor-turned-MP Rachana Banerjee said, "It's just a pre-puja meeting, we wanted to catch up and discuss some of the issues".

Rachana Banerjee also spoke about seeking additional time to reply to the Speaker. She said, "That is the party policy. It was a mutual decision".

When asked about many MPs skipping the meeting, Rachana Banerjee said: "All 20 MPs are together. All is well. The number of our MPs will increase. There is no rift among us. Some could not attend today's meeting as it was called at two days' notice. Kakoli di is our Chief Whip. She is with us, but she could not make it today because of some family problems".

There is also a murmur that some NCPI MPs have left the party's WhatsApp groups. However, Rachana Banerjee called such claims baseless. She said, "We all are in the group. Sometimes we keep changing the name of the WhatsApp group".

The disqualification proceedings stem from petitions filed by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on June 18, after 20 of the party's 27 Lok Sabha MPs broke ranks with the Mamata Banerjee-led organisation and joined the NCPI, extending support to the BJP-led NDA.

While the rebels have sought recognition as a separate political entity in the Lok Sabha, parliamentary records continue to list them as TMC members. The Speaker's office has also not formally recognised them as a separate parliamentary party, although they were given separate seating arrangements ahead of the Monsoon Session.