Rebel Trinamool MPs in deadly limbo as Speaker Om Birla holds back on deciding their political fate

New Delhi: Over four weeks after quitting the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the 20 rebel Members of Parliament (MPs) of the party who had merged with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) find themselves on a sticky wicket.

While they have gone on the warpath with Trinamool chairperson Mamata Banerjee at the cost of inviting brickbats from their own constituents for supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the latter does not seem to be willing to fully embrace them.

The rebel MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on 14 June and sought recognition as a separate parliamentary group. The Mamata Banerjee camp also wrote to Birla on 10 June, urging him to not recognise any separate faction within the party, and pressed for the disqualification of the rebel MPs under the anti-defection law.

Nearly two months since both factions wrote to Birla, sources in the Lok Sabha Secretariat told ThePrint that the Speaker is yet to deliver a ruling. “No decision has been taken in the matter,” the source said. In fact, the Lok Sabha website still lists all 28 MPs, including the 20 rebels, as TMC MPs.

The Speaker’s delay in giving  a ruling has led to an air of uncertainty in the rebel camp. Sources speak of the fear of some dissident MPs leaving if the air is not cleared about their status.

Though the rebel MPs have merged with NCPI, they support the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. A majority of the rebel group also attends NDA parliamentary party meets.

Trouble seems to be brewing. At least three MPs from the rebel camp – Khalilur Rahaman from Jangipur, Yusuf Pathan from Baharampur and Abu Taher Khan from Murshidabad –vented their feelings by skipping the NDA meeting on 4 August. This was the second time in two months that the three MPs skipped the NDA meeting.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament on 4 August, Abu Taher Khan said that he will not join the BJP. ThePrint also reached out to six of the MPs from the rebel faction, including Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Abu Taaher Khan, Yusuf Pathan and Khalilur Rahaman, but all refused comment.

While the rebel group merged with NCPI to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law, several MPs from the camp have expressed their willingness to join the BJP. But resistance from its own leaders and party rank-and-file seems to be holding the BJP back.

On 4 June, days before he was appointed West Bengal’s Finance Minister, Swapan Dasgupta in a post on social media platform X, cautioned his party to be wary of “false friends”. “I shed no tears for the TMC’s self-destruction. My only hope is that the political culture of the vandals does not start contaminating the West Bengal BJP. We in the BJP have to be always wary of false friends who are today cosying up to us because they need to wash away their past sins. The detox of Bengal cannot be left incomplete.”

The rebel MPs are also facing heat in their constituency and outside for aligning with the BJP. On 7 July, when one of the rebel MP Sayani Ghosh went to Baruipur to meet the family of an 11-year-old rape and murder victim, she was greeted with chants of “traitor”.

Poll panel silent

Even the Election Commission of India (ECI) is silent on the matter of 60 MLAs who have split from the Mamata Banerjee-led party and claim to be the real TMC. Both factions have also met the election commissioner and submitted letters making competing claims. While the rebel camp has staked claim to the TMC’s name and symbol, the Mamata Banerjee faction has urged the ECI not to recognise the former. The ECI has also not given any decision in the matter yet.

Leaders from the Mamata Banerjee camp have urged the Election Commission multiple times – the last was four days back – to give a ruling. “They (ECI) seem to be under pressure,” a leader from the Mamata Banerjee camp told The Print on condition of anonymity.

A leader from the Mamata Banerjee camp told ThePrint that the rebel MPs and MLAs have not only violated the 10^th schedule of  the Constitution that deals with disqualification but also the TMC’s constitution that bars party leaders from electing the party’s chairperson till five years after they are elected.

“Mamata Banerjee was elected the TMC chairperson in 2022 by member delegates for a term of 5 years. How can the rebel MLAs elect Arup Roy as the chairperson when Mamata Banerjee continues to hold the position?” the leader, who did not want to be named, said.

(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)

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