Sudip Bandyopadhyay met PM Modi after separate seating was approved.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accommodated the 20 rebel TMC MPs.
The group’s formal merger with the NCPI remains under consideration.
Trinamool Congress rebel leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, shortly after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla approved a separate seating arrangement for the 20 MPs who recently broke away from the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
The meeting took place ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which is scheduled to begin on July 20.
The breakaway faction has also indicated that it wants to support the Narendra Modi-led government and join the National Democratic Alliance, Hindustan Times reported
Separate Seats Approved For Rebel MPs
Bandyopadhyay, a senior Lok Sabha member, called on PM Modi after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accepted the rebel MPs’ request to be seated separately from the remaining TMC lawmakers in the House.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has also invited Bandyopadhyay to attend the all-party meeting scheduled for Sunday ahead of the Monsoon Session, news agency PTI reported.
The 20 MPs had recently severed ties with the TMC following the party’s defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections. They later joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India, or NCPI, a registered but unrecognised political party headquartered in Howrah, West Bengal.
The lawmakers subsequently approached the Lok Sabha Speaker seeking recognition as a separate parliamentary group.
Although Birla has permitted them to sit separately in the House, the request to formally recognise their merger with the NCPI remains pending. Officials said the matter was still under consideration.
Decision On NCPI Merger Awaited
The breakaway MPs have asked the Speaker to recognise their merger with the NCPI, a decision that will determine the group’s formal status in Parliament.
On July 14, Bandyopadhyay and fellow MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar met Birla and submitted details of the proposed organisational structure of the new parliamentary group, PTI reported.
Bandyopadhyay was proposed as its floor leader, while Ghosh Dastidar was named the chief whip.
The approval of a separate seating arrangement is the first formal step acknowledging the existence of the breakaway bloc in the Lok Sabha. However, it does not amount to official recognition of the group under the NCPI banner.
Rebel Group Signals Support For NDA
The developments assume significance ahead of the Monsoon Session, which will continue from July 20 to August 13.
Rebel MPs have expressed support for the Modi government and conveyed their interest in becoming part of the NDA.
Bandyopadhyay’s invitation to the all-party meeting is also being seen as an indication that the group is seeking to establish itself as a distinct parliamentary bloc.
