Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla invited the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction to “present their case”.
The move came after 20 rebel TMC MPs sought merger with the Nationalist Citizen Party of India.
Abhishek Banerjee was being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate when the invitation was sent.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday invited the Mamata Banerjee-led group of Trinamool Congress MPs to “present their case” as a rebel faction of 20 TMC MPs sought to merge with the Nationalist Citizen Party of India (NCPI).
According to The Hindu, the move came amid a petition by the Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar-led faction of rebel MPs and in response to a June 10 letter sent by TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee to the Speaker’s office.
In the letter, Mr. Banerjee urged the Speaker not to recognise or grant separate status to any rebel TMC faction in the Lok Sabha. He said the TMC is a “single, indivisible political party” and that the legislative party cannot be separated from the parent organisation. He also argued that no breakaway group based on signatures can claim recognition.
The Hindu reported that, according to the Mamata Banerjee faction, the invitation from the Speaker’s office was addressed to Mr. Banerjee and sent at 2 p.m. on June 15, asking him to meet the Speaker at 4 p.m. the same day.
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On Monday, Mr. Banerjee was being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in Kolkata. He was interrogated for 11 hours.
Party Lok Sabha MP Kirti Azad informed the Speaker’s office that Mr. Banerjee did not have access to his email and would be informed once the interrogation concluded, The Hindu reported.
Meanwhile, Mr. Azad went and met Mr. Birla.
(With inputs from PTI)
