TMC rebel camp split? NCPI MP Jagadish Basunia claims 17 MPs will join BJP

Kolkata: Rebel Trinamool Congress MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia on Monday claimed that 17 of the 20 Lok Sabha members currently aligned with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) will join the BJP before or after Durga Puja, but the claim was immediately rejected by fellow dissident MPs.

The BJP also distanced itself from the claim, with West Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya saying the party would not induct people simply because they expressed an interest in joining it.

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Basunia said the 17 MPs had finalised their decision to join the BJP together and claimed their numbers would keep them outside the ambit of the anti-defection law.

“We are 17 MPs who are going to the BJP together. Since more than two-thirds of the 20 members will be switching, the anti-defection law will not apply to us,” he told reporters.

The TMC has 27 Lok Sabha MPs, of whom 20 joined the little-known NCPI and extended support to the BJP-led NDA shortly after the party’s defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections in May.

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s party has approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and the Supreme Court, seeking the disqualification of the 20 MPs.

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However, rebel MP Satabdi Roy said Basunia’s remarks represented his personal position and that no such decision had been taken collectively by the group.

Another dissident MP, Abu Taher Khan, who is also part of the NCPI group, said Basunia was not authorised to speak for all the MPs.

Khan also rejected Basunia’s claim that he, Jangipur MP Khalilur Rahaman and Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan would support the BJP-led NDA from outside without formally joining the BJP.

“We will not go to the BJP. We will not go to the NDA. This is clear,” Taher said, adding that Basunia’s statement was his personal view.

The Murshidabad MP said he and Rahaman and Pathan could attend government meetings if invited by the prime minister or chief minister for development-related matters, but would not participate in BJP or NDA meetings.

Basunia had claimed that the three MPs from the minority community would not formally join the BJP because of political considerations in their constituencies. He said they could instead support the NDA from outside and potentially receive important responsibilities or portfolios.

The BJP sought to distance itself from Basunia’s claim.

West Bengal BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said he had no information about any such development and maintained that expressing an intention to join the party did not mean the BJP would automatically accept someone.

Bhattacharya said the party would not induct anyone merely because they wanted to join and questioned whether the BJP referred to by Basunia was “the BJP on Mars”.

“As far as I know, no one from the TMC or NCPI is joining the BJP. People of the state have not forgotten the kind of atrocities these leaders and MPs have done during the TMC regime,” he said.

On June 14, 20 dissident TMC Lok Sabha MPs announced their merger with the NCPI and extended support to the BJP-led NDA. They later sought recognition as a separate parliamentary group.

The rebel MPs have maintained that their move amounts to a valid merger under the anti-defection law, invoking its two-thirds provision. With 20 MPs in the group, at least 14 would be required to meet the threshold.

Basunia said the MPs had initially planned to join the BJP directly but moved to the NCPI after three minority MPs were unwilling to join the BJP.

The legal status of the group remains contested. Lok Sabha records continue to identify the 20 MPs as TMC members, while their request for recognition as a separate NCPI parliamentary group has not yet been finally decided.

TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee has approached the Supreme Court seeking expeditious disposal of his petition seeking disqualification of the 20 MPs under the anti-defection law.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued notices to the MPs on Aug. 26, seeking their responses to the disqualification petitions. The MPs sought an additional three weeks, which was granted by Speaker Om Birla, extending the deadline to Sept. 22.

The Supreme Court has also issued notices to the 20 MPs in the matter.

Basunia and his wife, TMC MLA Sangeeta Roy, faced protests when they returned to his ancestral home in Sitai in Cooch Behar amid anger over his political shift. A TMC office near his residence was also allegedly set on fire.

Basunia has maintained that he is no longer associated with the TMC and is aligned with the NDA.