Abhishek Banerjee on Friday met with Speaker Om Birla and submitted 20 petitions against its 20 rebel MPs, seeking their disqualification.
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NEW DELHI — Facing a revolt in his parliamentary team, Trinamool Congress leader in Lok Sabha Abhishek Banerjee on Friday met with Speaker Om Birla and submitted 20 petitions against its 20 rebel MPs, seeking their disqualification.
Banerjee, along with party MPs Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra, met the speaker in the Parliament House here.
The meeting comes days after the 20 rebel MPs met the speaker.
Talking to the media after meeting, Banerjee said the rebel MPs, who have claimed to join the lesser-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), should be disqualified from the membership of the House on the ground of leaving the party.
He also said their claims of 'merger' are not valid, and as per the law, two-thirds of the entire party must merge with another party, not just individual legislators.
"Twenty people met the speaker and claimed they should be treated as a separate group. Later, we got to know those MPs claimed to have joined another party, NCPI; nobody has heard the name of this group. Even they had not heard the name of this party," Banerjee said, flanked by Roy, Banerjee, Moitra, and party's Rajya Sabha Leader Derek O'Brien.
He said the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution is clear: if a member voluntarily gives up their membership of a party, they are disqualified as MPs.
"So if (they) have been elected on a symbol and (are) claiming after two years that they are joining a new party, their membership should go," he said.
He also said that the rule on two-thirds of the members merging with another party applies to the whole party, and not just the legislative party.
"If you have left your membership of the party, which many of you have spoken of, and this merger is invalid, both are enough to disqualify you from the membership of the House," he said.
Banerjee added that they also presented several court judgments related to the Tenth Schedule to the speaker.
"They are asking for separate sitting arrangement, electing a Lok Sabha leader, chief whip... This is not possible. You will first be disqualified," he said.
"If they have any integrity left, they should leave their posts," he said.
Lashing out at the MPs who switched sides, Banerjee said, "They sold their self-respect."
"Someone has to escape ED, CBI... Some are getting money, or being threatened..." he said adding that he has "concrete proof," and those who have objections with the claims can approach a court.
"They are joining hands with the BJP because they can't fight; there is no space for such people in Bengal politics," he said.
"In the last seven days, I have received five summons... There have been two raids at my house, two raids at Mamata ji's house. They took Mamata ji's security. We don't want it either. What can one expect from the government that unleashed bulldozers on the poor?" he said.
Asked if he would also approach the court over the issue, he said that decision would be taken in due course of time.
"We have left it to the judgment and wisdom of the speaker. He has said he will listen to the other side again and call us once more. I hope the speaker of Lok Sabha will work as per the Constitution and not choke democracy," he said.
The move comes after Birla invited the TMC Lok Sabha leader to present his views on the issue before a decision was made on a demand by 20 rebel TMC MPs to recognise them as a separate group following their merger with the NCPI.
Banerjee also wrote to the speaker last week, 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, contending that the Constitution and the anti-defection law do not permit the formation of a separate group within an existing political party.