The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has been plunged into a deeper crisis after 20 of its Lok Sabha MPs informed Speaker Om Birla that they had merged with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).
The group of rebel MPs met Birla and submitted a letter stating that they had merged with the NCPI, a party formed in 2022 that last contested elections in 2023.
According to a Lok Sabha functionary, the Speaker will verify the signatures of the 20 MPs before taking a decision on recognising the merger.
The merger could significantly alter the party's parliamentary strength and bolster the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said the lawmakers had decided to align with the NDA through the merger.
The delegation that approached Birla included 19 MPs who submitted a formal letter expressing their desire to join the NCPI. First-time MP Rachana Banerjee, who is currently in Malaysia, conveyed her consent through the same communication.
TMC loyalists Sagarika Ghose and Kirti Azad had approached Birla with a letter from the party’s Lok Sabha floor leader, Abhishek Banerjee, arguing that a split within a political party cannot be recognised under the existing anti-defection framework.
The merger could see the NDA's strength in the Lok Sabha rise from 294 to 314 members, but the alliance would still remain 46 seats short of the two-thirds majority mark in the Lower House.
