Overview
- About 20 TMC MPs have announced a merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and say they represent the real TMC after breaking from the party leadership.
- Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has invited Abhishek Banerjee to present his case in Parliament at 5 pm on Friday, June 19, and will hear both sides before deciding.
- Rebel MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar already met the Speaker and sought separate seating and status for their group.
- Abhishek had written to the Speaker asking that no separate faction be recognised and that the party be heard, and his earlier absence from a meeting was caused by hours of questioning by enforcement agencies in Kolkata.
- The split follows a major West Bengal Assembly defeat and could reshape the TMC’s parliamentary strength, affect how MPs access House resources, and complicate party unity and day-to-day functioning in the Lok Sabha.