Rebel TMC MPs meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at his residence, in New Delhi on Sunday. | Photo Credit: ANI

In a latest jolt to Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, a rebel faction of 20 MPs on Sunday decided to merge with Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party, a little-known Bengali-oriented political party.

The rebel Trinamool Congress MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and conveyed their decision to him. The group requested separate seating arrangements in Parliament.

After meeting Birla in Delhi, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is leading the rebel TMC MPs faction, told mediapersons, “We (20 MPs) are merging with the Nationalist Citizens Party. We requested separate seating arrangements in Parliament.”

Ghosh Dastidar, a four-term parliamentarian, added, “We command two-thirds majority. We will work for the country and work with the NDA under the leadership of the Prime Minister.”

Notably, the Trinamool Congress, which has faced a major internal rebellion after its massive defeat to the BJP in the recent Assembly polls in West Bengal, has 28 Lok Sabha MPs.

Earlier in the day, Trinamool Congress MPs Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghose, from the Mamata Banerjee camp, met Om Birla at his residence in Delhi and submitted a letter of party’s general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on the developments around rebel party MPs trying to make a separate bloc, urging the Lok Sabha Speaker not to accord any recognition and status to any separate group or faction of TMC.

Significantly, on last Wednesday, Ritabrata Banerjee, the leader of the legislature party faction of Trinamool Congress, claimed the support of 64 rebel MLAs, up from 58 earlier.

“The count is currently 64 MLAs. These legislators will come and submit a letter to the Speaker. We are the real Trinamool Congress,” Banerjee told newspersons outside the West Bengal Assembly.

major jolt

In a major jolt to Mamata Banerjee, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, two expelled TMC MLAs, earlier in the month claimed the support of 58 MLAs, over two-thirds of the party’s newly elected legislators, in Bengal. Speaker Rathindra Bose recognised Ritabrata as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the State Assembly.

“The number of MLAs with us may rise further. Naturally, we are the real Trinamool Congress,” Ritabrata added.

Riding on a massive anti-incumbency wave against the erstwhile Trinamool Congress government, the BJP recorded a historic landslide victory in the Assembly elections held in April. The saffron party’s win ended 15 years of TMC rule and marked a watershed moment for the party as it dismantled Mamata Banerjee’s bastion through an all-guns-blazing election campaign. The party won 208 seats, reducing the Trinamool to just 80 in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.

Published on June 14, 2026