Agencies | Kolkata:
Rebel Trinamool Congress leader and Cooch Behar MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia on Monday claimed that 17 of the 20 dissident parliamentarians who recently switched allegiance to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) are likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) around Durga Puja.
Basunia said the rebel lawmakers had decided to cross over to the BJP together, arguing that the move would keep them outside the ambit of the anti-defection law as more than two-thirds of the 20-member group would be making the switch.
“We are 17 MPs going to the BJP together. Since more than two-thirds of the 20 members will be moving, the anti-defection law will not apply to us,” Basunia was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
The claim comes nearly three months after 20 rebel TMC MPs announced on June 14 that they had merged with the NCPI and extended their support to the NDA government.
Under the anti-defection law, a merger is exempt from disqualification if it is supported by at least two-thirds of the members of the legislature party. For the 20-member NCPI group, at least 14 MPs would therefore need to back such a move.
Basunia, however, said three of the 20 lawmakers would not formally join the BJP. He identified them as Abu Taher Khan, Khalilur Rahaman and Yusuf Pathan, and said they would instead extend support to the NDA from outside.
According to Basunia, the three MPs, who belong to the minority community, had decided against formally joining the BJP because of the political and administrative circumstances in their respective constituencies.
“They will support the NDA, and may be given important responsibilities or portfolios,” he said.
Basunia’s remarks came days after he and his wife, TMC MLA Sangeeta Roy, faced protests during their visit to their ancestral home in Sitai, Cooch Behar.
Locals and BJP workers reportedly staged demonstrations over Basunia’s decision to switch political allegiance. During the unrest, 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 has instead extended his support to the NDA.
The developments come amid a major political crisis within the TMC following defections by party members in both Parliament and the West Bengal Assembly after the party’s electoral setback against the BJP earlier this year.
The rebel Lok Sabha members, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, subsequently broke away from the TMC and formed the NCPI.
Basunia’s latest claim, if acted upon, could further alter the political alignment of the rebel group and strengthen the BJP-led NDA’s position in Parliament.
