Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday challenged the party's rebel MPs and MLAs, saying he would resign within an hour if they returned to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Addressing the issue of defections, Abhishek Banerjee said that if the rebel leaders had a problem with him and that was the reason behind their rebellion, they should return to Mamata Banerjee. He said that if he was the common target, they should come back to the party, and he would resign within an hour.
His remarks came as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is expected to decide on Saturday on the merger of 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, news agency ANI reported citing sources
ANI reported that the Lok Sabha Speaker is consulting experts and may take a final decision on the merger on Saturday.
Last month, rebel TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar led a group of 20 MPs and announced their merger with the regional NCPI. Shiv Sena (UBT) has also witnessed a split, with six Lok Sabha MPs joining the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
According to sources, Speaker Om Birla may also decide on Saturday on the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)'s demand for separate seat allotment from the Congress after the fallout between the two parties from the INDIA bloc. The development follows the post-poll political developments in Tamil Nadu, where the Congress joined hands with Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
Earlier, seven Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MPs joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP, currently has 292 seats in the Lok Sabha. If the Speaker approves the two mergers, the NDA's strength will increase to 318 seats.
The NDA would then move closer to the two-thirds majority mark of 360 in the 540-member Lok Sabha, where three seats are currently vacant.
The proposed mergers have also fuelled speculation about the Centre reintroducing the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill. The Bill proposes increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha to as many as 850 seats and implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures.
According to sources, the Centre is likely to bring back the Bill while attempting to address concerns over delimitation by assuring a uniform 50 per cent increase in Lok Sabha seats across states.
Sources added that with the NDA moving closer to a stronger majority and the DMK no longer part of the INDIA bloc, the Centre is looking to secure the passage of the Bill, which was defeated after receiving 298 votes in April.
