A delegation of TMC leaders led by its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday and submitted seeking their disqualification for defecting.
Abhishek said the rebel MPs have sold their “conscience” and if they have an issue with the TMC, they should first resign from the Lok Sabha membership and go for fresh elections. He was accompanied by, Saugata Roy, and Derek O’Brien.
Abhishek said TMC hopes that being the custodian of the House, Speaker functions as per the Constitution.
The Friday meeting comes amid a dispute after a group of party MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar had last week approached the Speaker, a political party based in Tripura, and should be allowed to function as a separate bloc in Lok Sabha.
After meeting the Speaker, Abhishek said: “We have kept our case in front of the Speaker. If he functions as per the Constitution and Supreme Court orders, then these MPs should be disqualified. We have left it to the Speaker’s wisdom. We hope he gives a fair judgement … We hope the Speaker functions as per the Constitution.”
He appealed to the 20 rebel MPs of the TMC to resign first and seek the people’s mandate to return to Parliament. “If you have been elected on a symbol and two years later, you are claiming that I am joining another party, then your membership of the Lok Sabha should end. The second claim is that they are merging with another party and have two-thirds majority, then point 4 of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution says that it will be considered a merger, when two-third of a political party merges, and not just the Legislative party … This means that if the office-bearers merge, then it should be considered a merger,” he told reporters outside the Parliament complex.
Abhishek said he submitted 20 disqualification petitions to the Speaker against the defected group of MPs. “They [rebel MPs] have sold their conscience and the people of Bengal will never forgive them. Some of them have got central security. I say they go to Bengal and face the people. They want to save themselves from ED, CBI, or they are being threatened or they are being given money. If any MP feels this is offensive – that I am saying they are being bought – then they can go to court and I will prove it before the court of law. They don’t want to fight the BJP and hence, they are joining hands with the BJP,” said Abhishek.
“We have appealed to the Speaker to take a decision on this soon after hearing both sides. If he goes as per the Constitution or Supreme Court orders, then the decision will come against the MPs,” he added.
He said the TMC has left it to the “judgement and wisdom of the honourable Speaker … He has said that he will hear the other side and call us again. We hope that he works as per the Constitutional provisions and won’t strangle it”.
Abhishek had last week written to Birla, opposing any recognition, status or facilities being granted to what he described as a “purported separate group or faction” of the All India Trinamool Congress.
Those in the camp of the 20 defected MPs, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, believe they will not be disqualified since more than two-thirds of the MPs — 20 of the party’s 28 lawmakers — have merged with another party. However, the Mamata Banerjee faction believes the rebels will face disqualification and argues that the anti-defection law requires a broader “twin test” to establish whether a valid merger of the original political party has taken place.
