Rebel TMC MP Claims 17 NCPI Lawmakers Set to Join BJP; Party Cautions
Rebel TMC MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia claims 17 of 20 NCPI MPs will join the BJP, but the BJP and several NCPI MPs have rejected the assertion.
Rebel Trinamool Congress leader and Cooch Behar MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia has claimed that 17 of the 20 MPs who shifted allegiance to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) are preparing to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, either before or after Durga Puja in October.
Basunia said the original plan had been to join the BJP directly after the end of TMC rule in the state, but that this could not materialise, and an arrangement was instead made for the group to enter the NCPI. He added that because more than two-thirds of the 20 members would be moving together, the anti-defection law would not apply to them.
He also said that Abu Taher Khan, Khalilur Rahaman and Yusuf Pathan continue to support the NDA, but would not formally join the BJP because of political and administrative dynamics in their constituencies. According to him, they may be given important responsibilities or portfolios.
The controversy dates back to the aftermath of Mamata Banerjee's defeat in this year's assembly polls, when 20 of the 27 TMC Lok Sabha MPs joined the lesser-known NCPI and extended support to the BJP. TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee moved the Supreme Court seeking their disqualification, and an application was submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Notices were issued to the MPs.
The legal status of the group remains contested. Lok Sabha records continue to list the 20 MPs as TMC members, and their claim for separate recognition as part of the NCPI has not been settled.
Basunia's claim has drawn sharp reactions. NCPI MP Abu Taher Khan said Basunia had no right to speak for the MPs in question, stating clearly that they would not go to the BJP or the NDA. Shatabdi Roy, the NCPI lawmaker from Birbhum, said she was not aware of any such decision. Arup Chakraborty, the NCPI MP from Bankura, also denied knowledge of any decision to join the BJP, saying he would have to follow what the others do. Mitali Bag and Kalipada Soren similarly denied knowing anything about the claims.
West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya dismissed the suggestion that the party would automatically absorb the lawmakers. Anybody may want to join the BJP, he said, but whether they are accepted is a decision taken at the party's highest level.