TMC meets Lok Sabha speaker seeking 20 rebel MPs’ disqualification

New Delhi: Stepping up its attack on the rebel camp, the Trinamool Congress on Friday petitioned Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to disqualify 20 dissident MPs over their bid to merge with another outfit, with party leader Abhishek Banerjee saying those elected on the TMC symbol but joining another party “should lose their membership”.

Banerjee submitted 20 separate petitions under the anti-defection law after the rebel MPs sought recognition as a separate bloc in the Lok Sabha and announced plans to merge with Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).

The move came after the 20 rebel MPs met Birla and conveyed their decision to form a separate group in the Lower House.

Addressing reporters after meeting the Speaker, Banerjee said the MPs had effectively given up their membership of the TMC and were liable for disqualification under the Tenth Schedule.

“Twenty people met the Speaker and claimed they should be treated as a separate group. Later, we came to know they had joined another party, NCPI. Even they had not heard the name of this party,” he said.

Flanked by MPs Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra, and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, Banerjee argued that the rebels’ claim of a merger was constitutionally untenable. “The rule on two-thirds applies to the whole party, not just the legislative party….,” he said.