TMC rebels merge with National Citizen Party of India — What we know about Tripura-based NCPI

Rebel Lok Sabha MPs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced Sunday evening that they will "merge" with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India, and support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

This was widely seen as a tactical move to avoid any implications of the anti-defection law. However, Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate of the Supreme Court, Kapil Sibal, said these MPs should be disqualified.

After meeting Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at his residence in Delhi, rebel TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said, "We, the 20 MPs elected from the AITC, met the Speaker and submitted a letter requesting to sit separately. These 20 MPs constitute more than two-thirds of our total strength."

"We are merging with the Nationalist Citizens Party. Moving forward, we will work for the nation and collaborate with the NDA under the leadership of the Prime Minister," Ghosh said.

Following this key development amid turmoil within the TMC, Kapil Sibal said, "TMC rebels: Will merge with Nationalist Citizens Party (NCP)...The rebels of the TMC legislative party cannot merge with a political party; that can happen only if the TMC wishes to do so! Disqualify them!"

What do we know about Nationalist Citizens Party (NCP)?

The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) is a lesser-known registered, unrecognised, regional party from Tripura.

The party also contested the 2023 Tripura Assembly Election. It fought on two seats, but won none. The NCPI or NCPN, however, bagged 1 percent vote share in assembly constituencies it contested in the 2023 state polls, according to the Election Commission's data.

The Nationalist Citizens Party currently operates in the northeastern states. It has a presence in Assam, Tripura, Bengal, and other states, several reports claimed.

However, TMC leader and Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay described the Nationalist Citizens Party as a "recognised regional party."

TMC rebel MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said, “We have joined the Nationalist Citizens' Party. This is a political party. It is a recognised regional party. We have merged with it...It will be decided in the court which one the real TMC is.”

The fight for 'real TMC'

Asked about the competing claim of the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, Bandyopadhyay said the issue of who constitutes the "real TMC" would be decided by the courts, and added that they would claim the party's electoral symbol of two flowers.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay said, "When you leave with 2/3rd of the party, you cannot demand the name of that party on the first day itself..."

He said that in July, the rebel Lok Sabha MPs will make a demand to "give us Trinamool since we have 2/3rd majority from Trinamool. Then the court will decide..."

The development came as TMC leaders Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghosh also met Speaker Birla on Sunday and submitted a letter by TMC Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee.

In the letter, Abhishek Banerjee urged him not to accord any recognition to any purported separate faction, arguing that the Constitution does not permit the formation of a separate group within an existing political party.

The letter dated June 10, which was sent through email earlier, said that the anti-defection law does not permit such a split.