Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 19 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Priyanka Tibrewal on Friday reacted sharply to Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee’s scheduled meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla amid the ongoing dispute involving rebel MPs, saying the matter was an internal issue of the ruling party.
“This is their family’s grudge; we have no say in it. If they want to stay together, they can stay together; if they don’t, they can divorce,” Tibrewal said while responding to queries on Banerjee’s meeting with the Speaker.
West Bengal Minister Tapas Roy also reacted to the development and said the matter would be handled according to parliamentary procedures.
“We don’t know, it will be as per the rules. Om Birla, our Speaker of the Lok Sabha, is a very well-known Speaker. Whatever he thinks, everyone will have to accept it,” Roy said.
The reactions came after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla called upon Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee for a discussion on June 19 regarding the status of the 20 rebel MPs and his position on the issue.
The meeting assumes significance amid growing dissension within the TMC following the Assembly elections. On June 14, a group of 20 rebel TMC MPs met Speaker Om Birla and submitted a letter seeking the merger of their faction with the Tripura-based Nationalist Congress Party of India (NCPI). They also requested a separate seating arrangement in the Lok Sabha.
By merging with the NCPI, the rebel group claims to have bypassed the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. Under the anti-defection law, a merger is permissible if at least two-thirds of a legislative party joins another. With 20 MPs in their camp, the rebels assert they have comfortably exceeded this threshold.
The Nationalist Citizens Party of India, a Tripura-based party, has suddenly been in the national limelight. Despite its limited organisational footprint, the party has welcomed the influx of high-profile leaders, with national organising secretary Shantanu Dey stating that he is eager to see the party grow and work in alignment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision. (ANI)
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