Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is expected to hear Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and seek legal opinion before deciding on the proposed merger of 20 rebel MPs with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), sources said.
The Speaker’s office is keen to ensure that the merger decision is legally robust and capable of withstanding judicial scrutiny, given the likelihood of legal challenges to the move. The Speaker could meet the rebels again, if needed, to seek clarification, the sources said.
“The Speaker’s office sent Abishek Banerjee an email around 2pm (on Monday), asking him to come for a meeting at 4pm. Around 2.10pm, the Speaker’s office called (party MP) Kirti Azad and told him that a letter had been sent to Abhishek for the meeting. Around 2.30pm, Azad responded by email to the Speaker,” a Trinamool MP said.
In his reply, accessed by The Telegraph, Azad wrote that he had received a call and a message on WhatsApp from the Speaker’s office about the email sent to Abhishek.
“Upon receiving the information, I reached out to Derek O’Brien, joint national secretary and floor leader in Rajya Sabha, All India Trinamool Congress. He informed me that Abhishek Banerjee, who is committed to cooperating with all investigation agencies, is presently cooperating with investigation at the ED office in CGO complex, Kolkata. The interrogation started at 11am and is currently underway, as I write this,” Azad wrote.
He said Abhishek did not have access to email while being questioned. “When the interrogation concludes for the day, we undertake to inform him of the email he has received from you,” Azad wrote.
The Trinamool MP said Azad later met the Speaker around 3.30pm and said his office had let him down by summoning an MP from Calcutta to Delhi at two hours’ notice.
The MP said Abhishek came home shortly before midnight after the ED questioning and subsequently replied to the email, expressing his willingness to meet the Speaker.
“On Tuesday, he has been under interrogation by the CID since 11am,” the MP said.
Birla left for Udaipur on Tuesday for a pre-scheduled programme and is expected to return only on Wednesday.
“Before taking a decision on the proposed merger, the Speaker has to ensure that all sides are given an opportunity to present their case. He has also sought legal opinion to ensure that the decision can withstand any challenge,” a source said.
The BJP is said to be keen to secure a legally sustainable merger as the party aims to push a set of three key bills, including a constitutional amendment, to operationalise the women’s reservation law passed in 2023, undertake delimitation and pave the way for its implementation by 2029.
Ensuring that the merger withstands legal scrutiny is crucial because the 20 rebel MPs would then be able to participate in voting on these measures in the Lok Sabha without the risk of their status being challenged.
Rebel leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar told reporters that the NCPI leadership had formally accepted the merger proposal submitted by the 20 MPs. “Let us first complete the process of our bloc merging with another party,” she said.
Rachana signature
Hooghly MP Rachna Banerjee reached Parliament on Tuesday to sign the letter seeking Birla’s approval for the merger. She was abroad and could not join the rebels when they met the Speaker on Sunday.
