Rebel Trinamool Congress MPs seek more time to respond to Lok Sabha disqualification notices

Twenty rebel TMC MPs, who have aligned themselves with the NCPI, on Thursday sought two more weeks to respond to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's notices on a petition seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law, prolonging a politically charged battle over their status in Parliament.

Rebels seek two-week extension

The fresh request came on October 8, the deadline set by the Lok Sabha Speaker's office for the MPs to submit their replies.

The MPs, who have maintained that their realignment does not attract disqualification, are yet to finalise their legal response as their lawyers are still collating documents, rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said.

"Our deadline to send a reply is about to end today. We are writing to the Lok Sabha Speaker requesting two more weeks," Ghosh Dastidar told PTI.

The 20 MPs were also scheduled to meet in Kolkata at 3 pm on Thursday to discuss the notices and their next course of action.

The request for more time immediately drew a sharp response from the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction, which sought to turn the delay into a political attack on the rebels.

"They themselves don't know which party they are in now. They need time to say that. These turncoats, opportunists and ungrateful people make tall claims, conduct Facebook revolutions and win elections on anti-BJP votes but now are serving the interest of the BJP. They cannot even answer a notice?" TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said.

Disqualification battle over June split

The Speaker's office had, on September 25, directed the MPs to file their responses by October 8. The MPs had earlier sought four weeks, after an initial extension of three weeks had expired.

The disqualification proceedings stem from petitions filed by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on June 18, after 20 of the party's 27 Lok Sabha MPs broke ranks with the Mamata Banerjee-led organisation and joined the NCPI, extending support to the BJP-led NDA.

While the rebels have sought recognition as a separate political entity in the Lok Sabha, parliamentary records continue to list them as TMC members.

The Speaker's office has also not formally recognised them as a separate parliamentary party, although they were given separate seating arrangements ahead of the Monsoon Session.

At the heart of the dispute is a sharply different interpretation of the June rupture.

The Mamata faction has termed the move a coordinated defection warranting action under the Tenth Schedule, while the rebels contend that their decision followed a loss of confidence in the existing TMC leadership and that they are entitled to establish a separate political identity.

The matter has already moved beyond the political and parliamentary arenas.

On August 25, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Abhishek Banerjee's plea seeking an expeditious decision by the Speaker on the disqualification petitions.

BJP speculation adds to uncertainty

The latest extension request also comes amid renewed speculation over the rebels' next political destination.

Last month, rebel MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia claimed that 17 of the 20 NCPI MPs would join the BJP before or after Durga Puja. The claim was rejected by fellow dissidents, while the BJP also distanced itself from the assertion.

The uncertainty over the 20 MPs has acquired significance beyond their individual political futures, with their bloc potentially having a bearing on the NDA's arithmetic in the Lok Sabha as well as the balance of power within the opposition space in West Bengal.

For now, however, the next move rests with the Speaker.

The rebels' latest request for two more weeks keeps the disqualification battle in suspension, leaving unresolved the larger question that has shadowed the TMC split since June: Whether the 20 MPs have merely changed political allegiance or crossed the constitutional line into defection.

The answer could shape not only their parliamentary future but also the continuing battle for the TMC's political legacy.