Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday called Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee for a meeting on June 19 to present his case on the split in the Mamata Banerjee-led party, parliamentary sources said.
Sources in the Trinamool Congress said the party received an email from the Speaker’s office at around 5pm on Wednesday.
Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to meet the Speaker of the House on Friday evening.
The development comes amid a demand by 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs to be recognized as a separate group after their merger with the Indian Nationalist Citizens Party.
Birla decided to listen to both factions before taking a decision.
On June 10, Abhishek Banerjee wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker urging him not to give any recognition, status or facilities to any group claiming to be a separate faction of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).
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He stressed that the Constitution and the anti-defection law do not allow the formation of a separate group within an existing political party.
Party MPs Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghose also presented the letter to Birla at his residence on Sunday.
“Treat AITC as a single political party represented in the House only through its duly authorized leader, and refuse to grant any recognition, status or facilitation to any alleged separate group or faction in AITC,” Abhishek Banerjee said in his letter.
Citing the SC judgment in the Maharashtra political crisis, Abhishek Banerjee argued that the defense of “divisiveness” is no longer available under the Tenth Schedule and that the legal framework contemplates demarcation of a single political party, and not recognition of rival factions within it.
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“Give the AITC an opportunity to be heard before making any decision on any communication of the type referred to above, if it is received,” he said.
Abhishek Banerjee also emphasized that any merger claim would require political party merger and two-thirds support of legislators, and that fulfilling just one of these conditions would not be sufficient under the law.
Abhishek Banerjee was summoned for a meeting with Birla after two hours’ notice when the ED was questioning him in connection with its probe into an alleged primary school recruitment scam, TMC sources said on Tuesday.
While the rebels have already met Birla, Mamata Banerjee’s group has sought an appointment to meet him.
Parliamentary sources confirmed that Birla will make its decision based on the law, rules and regulations.
