New Delhi: The 20 Lok Sabha MPs who revolted against Trinamool Congress (TMC) will merge with a little-known party, the Nationalist Citizens Party of India.
“We have joined the Nationalist Citizens Party. It is a recognised regional party. We have merged with it. It will be decided in the court which one is the real TMC,” said senior MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
Another MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who led the revolt last month after the TMC were trounced in the West Bengal Assembly polls by the BJP, said they will sit separately in Parliament and “work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
The Nationalist Citizens Party of India may be a recognised party, but very few had heard about it before this evening.
Google search says Nationalist Citizens Party of India is a registered regional political party which is primarily active in northeast India.
By merging with NCPI, the rebel MPs avoided legal complications in forming a separate bloc.
It will also add to the NDA’s strength in Parliament, and help the government pass crucial bills unlike in the recent past, when the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 was not passed.
THE REBEL BLOC
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (Barasat MP), Yusuf Pathan (Baharampur), Saayoni Ghosh (Jadavpur), Deepak Adhikari (Ghatal), Arup Chakraborty (Bankura), Bapi Haldar (Mathurapur), Jagadish Basunia (Cooch Behar), Prasun Banerjee (Howrah), Sharmila Sarkar (Bardhaman Purba), Partha Bhowmick (Barrackpore), Asit Mal (Bolpur), Mitali Bag (Arambagh), Satabdi Roy (Birbhum), Mala Roy (Kolkata Dakshin), Abu Taher Khan (Murshidabad), Kalipada Soren (Jhargram), June Malia (Medinipur), Khalilur Rahaman (Jangipur), Rachna Banerjee (Hooghly).
