NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday invited Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for a meeting scheduled on June 19 to present his case concerning the split within the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
Meeting Details
Sources within the TMC confirmed that the party has received an email from the Speaker's office. Abhishek Banerjee will travel to Delhi to meet Birla at Parliament House at 5 pm on Friday.
This development comes amid a demand by 20 rebel TMC MPs to recognize them as a separate group after their merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India. Birla has decided to hear both factions before making a decision.
Background
Birla's office had initially sent an email to Abhishek, who serves as TMC's leader in the Lok Sabha, around 2 pm on Monday, requesting a meeting at 4 pm. However, at that time, Abhishek was being questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Kolkata regarding criminal cases filed against him. Consequently, the Speaker's office rescheduled the meeting to Friday.
On June 10, Abhishek wrote to Birla urging him not to grant recognition to any purported separate faction, arguing that the Constitution does not permit the formation of a separate group within an existing political party.
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