There were rumors that this would happen and it came true. Twenty rebel Trinamool MPs have joined the National Citizens Party of India (NCI) to avoid all the legal and technical complications associated with forming a separate parliamentary party or bloc in the Lok Sabha.
Sources said the new party will have Assam, West Bengal and Tripura as its main political focus. The rebel Trinamool MPs will support the BJP-led ruling NDA even if they join the NCPI.
The Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) is not a household name in Tripura’s political circles. Even many political observers in the state do not have clear information about the party’s organizational structure or leadership.
However, the party was seen in the 2023 Tripura Assembly elections. NCPI has fielded candidates in two constituencies – Chaumanu in Dhalai district and Kailashar in Unkoti district. However, the party could not make much impact in the election campaign. Their candidates from both the constituencies got a total of 822 votes, which is just 0.03 percent of the total votes cast.
According to Election Commission records, the Nationalist Citizen Party of India is currently listed as an unrecognized political party.
Political activity in Delhi received unprecedented attention on Sunday. On the same day, angry Trinamool MPs went to Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav’s official residence before going to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s residence. The high-profile meeting was attended by Kakali Ghosh Dastidar, Sudeep Banerjee, Shatabdi Roy, Arup Chakraborty, Sayani Ghosh, Mala Roy, Bapi Halder and Prasoon Banerjee.
The most significant and surprising aspect of the meeting was that apart from Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, influential BJP Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey was also present. Needless to say, the internal understanding between the BJP and the rebels has reached its peak.
Sunday’s incident has fueled deep discontent among the grassroots, which has been on the verge of exploding since the debacle in the state assembly elections. In the last few days, one after another MPs have openly expressed their anger against the party leadership. Expressing deep concern over the current political and law and order situation in Bengal, they have decided to support the Modi government in Delhi.
Earlier, the camp led by Kakali Ghosh Dastidar had written to the Speaker demanding recognition as a separate parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha. A secret document signed by 19 Trinamool MPs surfaced on Friday, fueling speculation of a major split in the Trinamool camp in the Lok Sabha.
On Sunday morning, Kakali Ghosh claimed at the Dastidar airport that two more MPs had joined their camp, taking the total number of rebels in the Lok Sabha to 22. However, the rebel MP did not clarify which two are newcomers.
