Kolkata: Rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Cooch Behar MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia claimed on Monday claimed that 17 of the 20 MPs of the NCPI are set to join the BJP either before or after Durga Puja in October.
The 17 MPs had finalised plans to join the BJP together, Basunia told reporters, claiming that their collective defection would keep them outside the purview of the anti-defection law.
“We are 17 MPs going to the BJP together. Since more than two-thirds of the 20 members will be moving, the anti-defection law will not apply to us,” the MP said.
On June 14, twenty dissident TMC MPs announced their merger with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and extended their support to the ruling NDA.
At least 14 of the 20 rebel MPs are needed to meet the two-thirds threshold to avoid disqualification.
Basunia, however, claimed that only three NCPI MPs from the minority community would not formally join the BJP because of the political and administrative dynamics in their constituencies.
MPs Abu Taher Khan, Khalilur Rahaman and Yusuf Pathan would instead extend support to the NDA from outside, he said, as reported by PTI.
“They will support the NDA, and may be given important responsibilities or portfolios,” Basunia said.
His statement came days after he and his wife, TMC MLA Sangeeta Roy, faced protests when they returned to their ancestral home in Sitai in Cooch Behar.
The couple faced demonstrations by locals and BJP workers amid criticism over Basunia’s political shift. A TMC office near his residence was also allegedly set on fire during the unrest.
The MP maintained that he is no longer with the TMC and is now aligned with the NDA.
