The Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) identity crisis took a surprising turn on Sunday when 20 rebel MPs, led by Kakoli Ghosh, told Parliament Speaker Om Birla that they had merged with a little-known party based in Tripura, strengthening the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and paving the way for one of the biggest defections in the history of India’s parliament.
At least 20 TMC lawmakers met Birla on Sunday and submitted a message that the rebel group had merged with the National Citizens Party of India or NCPI, which was formed in 2022 and contested its last elections in 2023.
The party currently has no representative anywhere in the country. According to a Lok Sabha functionary, Birla will now verify the signatures of 20 MPs before approving the merger.
“We, 20 MPs, have now merged with the National Citizens Party and will work with the NDA under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah,” rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said after meeting Birla.
With this merger, the strength of the BJP-led NDA rose to 314 seats.
The latest in the TMC crisis
The structure remains the same: The 20 legislators who left the Trinamool Congress to join the Indian National Congress Party (NCPI) are set to retain a structure similar to the one they had in the TMC.
Former TMC Lok Sabha leader Sudeep Bandopadhyay, former party president and key rebel face Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, deputy leader Shatabdi Rai, popular film stars Deepak Adhikari, Saioni Ghosh and John Malliah were among the 20 rebels. Arup Chakraborty, Partha Bhowmick, cricketer Yusuf Pathan, Sharmila Sarkar, Mala Rai, former Indian football captain Prasun Banerjee, Asit Mal, Khalilur Rehman, Abu Tahir Khan, Jagadish Basonia, Kalipada Soren, Mitali Bag, Bappi Haldar and Khaleelur Rahman were also present at the meeting.
A previous Hizb ut-Tahrir report quoted Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the face of the rebel MPs, as saying, “Discussions are continuing. There is no change. The previous arrangement will continue.”
According to two people familiar with the matter, Dastidar will become NCPI’s chief whip – a role she previously held at TMC before being replaced by Kalyan Banerjee.
Veteran MP Sudeep Bandopadhyay, who served as TMC floor leader in Lok Sabha before being replaced by Abhishek Banerjee last year, is expected to become NCPI floor leader. Shatabdi Roy is likely to be appointed deputy leader.
The rebel bloc also openly supported the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. “We will support Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah,” Dastidar said.
NDA’s strength jumps to 314 seats in Lok Sabha: The defection has significantly increased the number of NDA members in Parliament. With the support of the 20 former TMC MPs, the alliance’s strength in the Lok Sabha rose from 294 to 314 seats. In the Rajya Sabha, the ruling bloc is likely to reach 155 seats after the next biennial elections and by-elections.
Despite the gains, the NDA still falls short of the two-thirds majority required for constitutional amendments – 46 seats in the Lok Sabha and eight in the Rajya Sabha.
According to Article 368, a bill amending the Constitution must be “passed in each House by a majority of the total members of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting.” Read the full report here
NCPI’s top leaders question merger: Shantanu Dey, national secretary of the CPM, said the party chief did not discuss any merger proposal with other office bearers and noted that the decision lacked organizational approval.
“The party president has never spoken about merger within the party. Such decisions cannot be taken by him,” Dey, who cited possible rifts within the organization over the dramatic political development that has thrust the shadowy party into the national spotlight, was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
Dey also said that the NCP’s political activities were largely limited to Tripura and that the party was never an active force in West Bengal.
“Though the party was registered in West Bengal in 2023, the state was never among our major areas of operation,” he said.
BJP eyes key legislation amid improving numbers: This political turmoil has raised speculation that the Narendra Modi government may revive some of its more ambitious legislative proposals.
There are indications that the NDA may try to reintroduce bills related to delimitation and expansion of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 815 seats, based on the 2011 census.
The government may also go ahead with the “One Nation, One Election” proposal, currently before a joint parliamentary committee.
Under the proposed delimitation plan, the number of Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will increase from 80 to 120 seats, while Tamil Nadu’s representation will increase from 39 to 59 seats.
However, opposition to the proposal remains strong, especially from southern parties.
“The DMK is in principle opposed to the delimitation bill in its current form. We have to see what the changes are,” DMK MP A Raja said last week.
A BJP MP, speaking anonymously, acknowledged the challenge ahead: “It does not mean that the NDA can reach the magic number overnight. In the Lok Sabha, the government needs to bridge a wide gap to pass any bill to amend the Constitution.”
Opposition attacks: “artificial” division Opposition parties strongly criticized the defections and the sudden rise of the relatively unknown National Party.
RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha said: “Have you even heard the name of this party before yesterday? Has anyone in the country – other than the people who created it – heard it? This is a dismal state for our democracy. If these tactics become the norm, what will democracy become? … A ‘non-entity’ party, which got just 800 votes in two Assembly elections, suddenly got 20 MPs overnight… Indian democracy has turned into such a farcical state that the world’s perception of us has changed radically.”
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also accused the BJP leadership of engineering defections to secure a future constitutional majority.
“The troubled Central Home Minister – a disgrace to the dignity of that office once held by Sardar Patel – has brazenly dragged Indian democracy to new lows. He has hatched a conspiracy to engineer the illegal defection of 20 TMC MPs and orchestrate their complete and utterly questionable merger with a political entity that almost no one has heard of,” he said.
“This bizarre maneuver is part of the Central Home Minister’s strategy to garner a two-thirds majority for the NDA in the Lok Sabha. As long as he remains in this position, decency, decency and fidelity to constitutional values and principles will continue to erode and will remain under threat every day,” he added.
TMC fights back as Bengal unit shows signs of deeper split: The Trinamool Congress has challenged the legitimacy of the split and moved quickly to prevent disqualification issues from escalating.
On Sunday, rebel MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla soon after Mamata Banerjee loyalists Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghose presented a message from TMC Lok Sabha floor leader Abhishek Banerjee.
The letter stated that “division is no longer available under the Tenth Schedule” and that the TMC remains “a single non-partisan political party t is divisible.”
Mamata’s growing problems: The TMC, founded by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has been omnipresent since its crushing defeat to the BJP in the recently concluded state elections. In successive blows, Mamata Banerjee has witnessed MPs and local MPs forming rebel camps, MPs resigning, mayors resigning and “attacks” on leaders who stand by her in recent weeks. Most of the leaders have cited corruption and “arrogant” Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, as the reason behind their revolt.
The crisis began in the West Bengal Assembly, where at least 59 TMC lawmakers earlier this month elected their leader of the opposition — Ritabrata Chakraborty — against the wishes of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee.
She threw an egg at Kunal Ghosh: TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh was targeted with an egg outside party chief Mamata Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat in south Kolkata on Monday evening, soon after he left the house.
The incident took place around 6.30 pm when Ghosh, an MLA from Beliaghata in north Kolkata, stopped to talk to reporters outside the residence.
A man later identified as Chandan allegedly threw an egg at Ghosh at close range. Onlookers said that although Ghosh tried to bend down, the egg hit his head and broke on impact.
In justifying his action, Chandan alleged that Ghosh had committed irregularities.
“He (Ghosh) deserves to be beaten with eggs. He has committed many atrocities and done many wrong things,” Chandan was quoted as saying by PTI.
The attack came days after Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Diamond Harbor MP, was attacked and pelted with eggs, shoes, stones and mud in Sonarpur during his first public appearance since the party’s election loss in the state.
