As many as 17 of the 20 Trinamool Congress-turned-Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India (NCPI) Lok Sabha MPs from West Bengal are set to join the BJP directly next month, Cooch Behar MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia claimed on Monday.
Basunia, one of the prominent members of the NCPI MPs’ camp, said the 17 MPs would join the BJP before or around the time of the forthcoming Durga Puja.
However, three MPs in the group — Abu Taher Khan of Murshidabad, Yusuf Pathan of Baharampur and Khalilur Rahman of Jangipur do not want to join the BJP directly, he said. The three MPs will continue to remain part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) despite not formally joining the BJP, according to Basunia.
“However, despite not joining the BJP directly, the three MPs from Murshidabad district will continue to be part of the National Democratic Alliance. “They are elected representatives from minority-dominated constituencies. So naturally, there are some problems for them in directly joining the BJP. But we have three more. However, that recognition has not yet been granted.
The remaining 17 of us will be joining the BJP directly next month before the forthcoming Durga Puja,” Basunia said on Monday. “The required number was 14 for two-thirds of the total MPs. The 20 MPs continue to be listed as Trinamool Congress members, according to Lok Sabha records.
But they will continue to be with the NDA,” Basunia said. So, we will not come under the anti-defection law,” he said.
