Trinamool rebel MPs seek separate seating, office space in Lok Sabha after joining NCPI

New Delhi: Trinamool rebel MPs Sudip Bandopadhyay and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who recently joined the Nationalist Citizen Party of India (NCPI), are likely to be appointed the party's floor leader and chief whip, respectively, in the Lok Sabha, sources said on Tuesday.

The two leaders met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday to discuss seating arrangements for the NCPI's 20 MPs and the allotment of a party office in the new Parliament building.

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Sources said they informed the Speaker of the party's decision and are likely to be invited to the all-party meeting on July 19 as a separate entity from the Trinamool Congress.

The sources said they have been asked to submit party resolutions stating that the NCPI is extending support to the BJP-led NDA. The party's MPs will be allocated seats in the House after the resolutions are submitted, they added.

The meeting comes ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament as the NCPI seeks parliamentary recognition as an NDA ally.

Bandopadhyay also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently, a source said.

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The NCPI is expected to formally write to the Speaker seeking parliamentary recognition.

The developments assume significance as the Trinamool Congress has moved the Speaker seeking the disqualification of the 20 MPs who quit the party to join the NCPI under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

Trinamool Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Abhishek Banerjee has submitted 20 separate petitions, contending that the MPs voluntarily gave up the party's membership by joining the NCPI and are, therefore, liable to be disqualified. He has also urged the Speaker not to accord recognition or any facility to the breakaway group.