Speaker invites Abhishek Banerjee to present his case on TMC split on Friday

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has invited TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee for a June 19 hearing regarding a petition by 20 rebel party MPs seeking separate status after a purported merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India

New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday invited Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee for a meeting on June 19 to present his case on the split in the Mamata Banerjee-led party, parliamentary sources said.

Sources in the Trinamool Congress said the party received an email from the Speaker’s Office at around 5 pm on Wednesday.

---

Abhishek Banerjee is to meet the Speaker on Friday evening.

The development comes amid a demand by 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs to recognise them as a separate group after their merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India.

Birla has decided to hear both factions before taking a decision.

On June 10, Abhishek Banerjee wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker urging him not to accord any recognition, status or facility to any group claiming to be a separate faction of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).

He asserted that the Constitution and anti-defection law do not permit the formation of a separate group within an existing political party.

Party MPs Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghose also submitted the letter to Birla at his residence on Sunday.

“Treat the AITC as a single political party represented in the House solely through its duly authorised Leader and Whip, and decline to accord any recognition, status, or facility to any purported separate group or faction of the AITC,” Abhishek Banerjee had said in his letter.

Citing a judgment of the Supreme Court’s constitution bench in the Maharashtra political crisis, Abhishek Banerjee argued that the defence of a “split” is no longer available under the Tenth Schedule and that the legal framework contemplates identification of one political party, not recognition of rival factions within it.

“Afford the AITC an opportunity of being heard before any decision is taken on any communication of the nature referred to above, should the same be received,” he had said.

Abhishek Banerjee also contended that any merger claim would require both a merger of the political party and the support of two-thirds of legislators, and that satisfying only one of these conditions would not be sufficient under the law.

On Tuesday, TMC sources said Abhishek Banerjee was called for a meeting with Birla at a two-hour notice when the ED was questioning him in connection with its probe into an alleged primary school recruitment scam.

While the rebels have already met Birla, Mamata Banerjee’s group has sought an appointment to meet him.

Parliamentary sources asserted that Birla will take a decision based on the law, rules and regulations.