The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCP), which has been thrust into the spotlight after the Trinamool Congress rebel Lok Sabha faction's merger with it, has named Jyotiprakash Chatterji as its new president, according to Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, a key face of the dissident camp.

Shantanu Dey, who calls himself the NCPI's national organisation general secretary, told PTI that he had no information about the new president.

"I don't know who Jyotiprakash Chatterji is. I have no idea what's happening with the NCPI, a party for which I worked so hard. I am glad that big leaders are joining us, but we have not been contacted by them so far. I am disheartened by the fact that we are being kept in the dark," Dey, whose name also finds mention as the NCPI's general secretary in the party's old campaign posters, said.

One of the leading faces of the TMC rebel faction, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, on Tuesday claimed that the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) has agreed to accept the joining of all the dissident Lok Sabha members of her party, whose numbers are likely to go up to 22 from the present 20.

The Lok Sabha Speaker will hear the defected TMC MPs as well as the faction led by Mamata Banerjee before deciding on giving recognition to the breakaway faction, sources privy to the development said.

If the Speaker accepts the TMC rebels' plea, the NCPI will become the second largest constituent of the NDA in Lok Sabha ahead of the TDP which has 16 MPs and the JD(U) which has 12. The BJP on its own has 239 members excluding the Speaker.

Meanwhile, sources in the Mamata-led TMC said its leader Abhishek Banerjee was called for a meeting with Birla at a two-hour notice when he was still being questioned by the ED in connection with its probe into the alleged primary school recruitment scam.

Banerjee got an email from the Speaker's office around 2 pm on Monday, asking him to meet Birla at 4 pm. Soon after, the Speaker's office called party MP Kirti Azad and told him about the email.

Azad, in response, informed the Speaker's office that Banerjee was "committed to cooperating with all investigative agencies" and was cooperating with the probe at the ED office in Kolkata, sources said.

Later in the day, Azad also met the speaker to inform him about the email.

The sources added that Banerjee returned after questioning only around midnight.

In a fast-paced development, the NCPI, which has been thrust into the spotlight after the TMC rebel Lok Sabha faction's announcement of merger with it, named Chatterji as its new president, according to Dastidar.

Dastidar's statement came a day after NCPI founder Shewli Kundu said she had stepped down as the NCPI chief, triggering speculation that Dastidar herself had taken charge of the party.

Responding to a query from PTI on Tuesday, Dastidar said Chatterji is the new president of NCPI.

However, little is known about Chatterji, much like the party itself.

The NCPI registered as a political party in January 2023, with its address listed in Election Commission records as a building in Sankarail, in West Bengal's Howrah district.

Asked about the next move of the rebel TMC MPs, Dastidar said first they want to settle down while trying to merge into another party.

"Acceptance has already come to us. They (NCPI) are happy to take us. We will work together with the NDA under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah," the lawmaker from Bengal's Barasat told reporters at the Parliament House complex.

Asked about her faction's strength, Dastidar said, "Currently we are 20 (MPs). The numbers may go up to 22." Altogether, 28 MPs got elected to Lok Sabha on TMC tickets in the 2024 general elections.

On relations with the rebel TMC MLAs in Bengal, she said the dissident MPs have no connection with the state legislators. "We have no connection with them. They are a separate group; their issues and agenda are different." The Mamata Banerjee-led faction, however, dismissed the breakaway group as a "gaddar team" and asserted that the TMC remained under the former CM.

"There are two teams -- the TMC team and the gaddar team. The TMC team is led by Mamata Banerjee. Gaddar team is led by Narendra Modi. The symbol of TMC team is the much loved twin flowers (jora phool). Symbol of gaddar team is the nib of a senior TMC leader and MP Saugata Roy said.

Azad said: "The real TMC is led by Didi, and everyone knows that Didi is Mamata Banerjee. The other group is a party of traitors." Meanwhile, rebel MP Rachna Banerjee, who met Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh on Tuesday and signed the document for the merger, denied that the dissident lawmakers were acting against Mamata Banerjee personally, while defending their decision to align with the NDA.

"There can never be any rebellion against her. We have shared a very old relationship with Didi, and that relationship will always remain the same," she said.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the senior most face in the rebel group, said the first phase of the merger process was completed on Sunday and if they are called again for a second round, then further discussions will take place.

He said the next steps will be taken before the Monsoon session of the Parliament, which normally begins in third week of July.

"Discussions are taking place on how both sides will sit together, come closer, and determine the future course of action for the group. The Trinamool Congress has its own symbols, assets, and other organisational matters. Decisions will have to be made regarding all these issues. Experience suggests that many of these matters will ultimately be settled in court," Bandyopadhyay said.

He said the Speaker's responsibilities include recognising and constituting the parliamentary bloc and allocating party office space and these tasks are expected to be completed expeditiously.

Former Lok Sabha secretary general and constitutional expert P D T Achary cited paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution to underline that only a political party is allowed to merge with another party and just MPs or MLAs cannot merge.

Paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule deals with the exception to disqualification in case of a merger.

It says that a member of a House will not be disqualified if the original political party to which they belong merges with another political party and not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned agree to such a merger.

Achary told PTI that if the leadership of a political party decides to merge with another political party, its MLAs and MPs have to agree on the merger, "but the MPs or the MLAs alone cannot merge with another political party. This is the constitutional provision".

An Election Commission official said the NCPI will have to "report" the new developments to the poll authority in due course and there was "no tearing hurry" in informing the poll body.

A former EC official, who dealt with political parties in the poll panel, termed the plan of the TMC rebels to merge with the NCPI an "innovation" that has no mention in either the anti-defection law or the Representation of the People Act.

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has already written to Birla, disputing the merger proposal of the rebel MPs.

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