Opposition parties on Sunday walked out of an all-party meeting called by the Centre in protest against the Union government’s decision to extend an invitation to the rebel faction of the Trinamool Congress, whose 20 MPs have announced their intention to merge with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party of India.

The all-party meeting was called ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which will begin on Monday.

The entire Opposition, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Aam Aadmi Party, National Conference, Left parties and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), walked out of the meeting in protest, ANI quoted TMC MP Mahua Moitra as saying.

Moitra told the reporters that the strength of the Trinamool Congress in the list provided by the table office is shown to be 28 members and the merger of the 20 rebel MPs with the NCPI has not been approved by the speaker.

Thanking all the Opposition parties for their support, Moitra noted that the petitions submitted by the TMC for the disqualification of the 20 MPs are still pending.

“After the 91st amendment, there is no room for a separate bloc. So on what grounds did the parliamentary affairs minister extend an invitation to these 20 rebel MPs and how are they attending this meeting?” the news agency quoted her as saying.

In a social media post, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that the walkout “was a mark of protest” against the decision of the Narendra Modi government to invite the NCPI. He called the NCPI “a parking place” for 20 rebel MPs of the TMC.

On Saturday, the speaker accepted the request by the 20 rebel MPs to sit separately in the Lok Sabha chamber.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the rebel TMC group’s request to merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India was being considered by the speaker, ANI reported. However, Rijiju invited faction MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay for a floor leaders’ meeting on Sunday.

TMC split

Trinamool Congress leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar had announced on June 14 that 20 of the party’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs will merge with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and support the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA in the Lower House.

In response, TMC’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Abhishek Banerjee, had on June 19 submitted petitions to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding that the 20 rebel MPs be disqualified on the grounds of leaving the party.

Citing the 10th Schedule, Abhishek Banerjee had also contended that the merger can be considered valid only if two-thirds of a political party, not the legislature party, merges into another party.

The Nationalist Citizens Party of India did not have any MPs before the merger.

The TMC has been beset by internal divisions and rebellions after it lost the Assembly elections to the BJP in May. Nearly 60 out of the TMC’s 80 MLAs have rebelled against the party leadership to choose Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

The group has been recognised by the Assembly speaker as the party’s legislature party in the House, and Ritabrata Banerjee has been recognised as the leader of the Opposition.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.