20 rebel TMC MPs meet Om Birla, to merge with Tripura-based party NCPI

The ongoing internal crisis within the Trinamool Congress (TMC) escalated into a full-blown political split on Sunday after 20 dissident Members of Parliament decided to merge their faction with a lesser-known political outfit, the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). The rebel lawmakers formally met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at his official residence in New Delhi to submit a letter announcing the merger and extending their unconditional legislative support to the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Highly placed sources indicate that the faction chose this specific route to circumvent strict anti-defection legal complications that would have arisen if they had attempted to form an independent parliamentary bloc.

Veteran leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a long-time close confidant of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, delivered a massive blow to the party by officially shifting his allegiance to the dissident camp. Bandyopadhyay stated that his decision followed an intense appeal from his fellow rebel colleagues, though he clarified that his final signature on the document to the Speaker would be executed in the presence of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. He claimed the rebels originally envisioned a structural compromise where Mamata Banerjee would transition into a "chief advisor" role, leaving active governance to the younger faction—an initiative that ultimately fell apart.

In a swift counter-offensive, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee wrote a formal petition to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging the parliamentary secretariat to continue treating the TMC as a single, undivided political unit. Banerjee requested the Speaker not to accord any institutional recognition, separate seating, or administrative facilities to the breakaway dissident group. The move came just hours after the ruling party initiated a sweeping organizational overhaul to strip the rebels of their internal powers, removing key figures like Kunal Ghosh and Saugata Roy from top posts while appointing fresh faces to lead the party’s youth and women’s wings.