KOLKATA: Around half of the 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs who have joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) remained absent from a meeting and lunch hosted by Sudip Banerjee at a city hotel on Thursday, even as the NCPI MPs sought another 15 days from Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to respond to disqualification notices served on them.
The MPs who skipped Sudip’s meeting were Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sayani Ghosh, Yusuf Pathan, Mala Roy, June Maliah, Partha Bhowmick, Mitali Bag, Kaipada Soren, Deb and Asit Mal.
The NCPI MPs who attended the meeting were Sudip Banerjee, Abu Taher, Sharmila Sarkar, Khalilur Rahaman, Jagadish Basunia Burman, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Bapi Halder, Rachana Banerjee and Arup Chakraborty.
The meeting was called to discuss a strategy in connection with the Lok Sabha notices and the NCPI’s future course of action, sources said.
“Someone has gone abroad, someone’s son is sick, while some others have other engagements and programmes. But we have contacted all those who could not join the meeting today,” Arup Chakraborty told the media.
“We don’t have any issue related to any differences in opinion with them,” said an MP who attended the meeting at the hotel on AJC Bose Road in Kolkata.
Ghosh Dastidar, according to a news agency report, said on Thursday that an extension had been sought as the deadline for submitting their replies expires on October 8. The MPs are facing a petition seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Ghosh Dastidar, one of the MPs named in the petition, said the group needed more time to gather and organise the documents required for its response. The request for an extension was sent to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
“Our deadline to send a reply is about to end today. We are writing to the Lok Sabha Speaker requesting two more weeks,” the report quoted her as saying.
The MPs had been given time until October 8 by the Lok Sabha Secretariat to submit their replies within the stipulated timeframe.
Sources, however, said their legal team could not complete the response as the deadline approached, prompting the MPs to seek additional time.
The disqualification notices were issued following a petition filed by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, belonging to the Mamata Banerjee faction, seeking action against the MPs under the anti-defection provisions.
The rebel MPs have maintained that their decision to leave the TMC and align with the NCPI does not attract disqualification.
The meeting was also expected to discuss the Lok Sabha notices and their next course of action.
Mala Roy, one of the absentee MPs, was not available for comment.