Political observers believe the seating arrangement carried a strong political message, signalling the growing importance of the Trinamool Congress defectors within the NDA.
Photo: IANS/File
Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) chief whip Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar was spotted at the front row alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) top leadership as the Tripura based political group attended the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) parliamentary party meeting for the first time on Tuesday.
Kakoli was allotted the fifth seat to the Prime Minister’s right in the front row, where Union Home Minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and union minister of health and family welfare J.P. Nadda were also seated.
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Political observers believe the seating arrangement carried a strong political message, signalling the growing importance of the Trinamool Congress defectors within the NDA amid the evolving political equations between the ruling coalition and the breakaway faction.
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The meeting assumed significance as Parliament gets ready to take up key legislative business, including the Centre’s proposed anti-paper leak legislation, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday but could not be discussed because of opposition protests.
The government is also preparing to reintroduce the revised Delimitation Bill, making Tuesday’s strategy meeting crucial.
Although the NCPI has been recognised as a political party by the Election Commission, its 20 Lok Sabha MPs who defected from the Trinamool Congress are yet to receive formal recognition as an NCPI parliamentary group in the House.
Officially, they continue to be listed as Trinamool MPs in the Lok Sabha.
“We have submitted all the required documents to the Speaker seeking recognition,” Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar told reporters after the meeting.
Asked about the invitation despite the pending recognition, she said, “The NDA considers us a part of the alliance. That is why we have been invited to the meeting.”
She added that discussions regarding the party’s formal recognition and parliamentary seating arrangements were underway.
“Once everything is finalised, we will inform everyone,” she said.
The development came a day after NCPI’s Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay met West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at Nabanna.
Adhikari was initially expected to travel to New Delhi on Tuesday for a meeting with the NCPI MPs but cancelled his visit due to other engagements.
The late-night meeting in Kolkata has fuelled speculation over the evolving coordination between the Bengal government and the breakaway MPs.
When the Trinamool rebels floated the NCPI, they had announced that they would support the NDA.
Earlier this month, Sudip Bandyopadhyay had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.
Following the NCPI parliamentary party’s first meeting on July 19, Sudip reiterated that the party would back the NDA in Parliament while raising constituency-related issues before the West Bengal government instead of approaching the Centre directly.
Besides Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, NCPI MPs Satabdi Roy, Sayani Ghosh and other party MPs attended Tuesday’s NDA meeting.
“It is my first NDA meeting. Discussions were held on the Free Trade Agreement and the Blue Economy. The anti-paper leak Bill was introduced yesterday, and we will discuss it today. In my opinion, there should be no opposition to such a Bill,” Sayani Ghosh said.
The NCPI’s participation in the NDA meeting drew sharp criticism from the Mamata Banerjee camp. Trinamool MP Sougata Roy alleged that the rebel MPs had betrayed the mandate.
“They were elected as Trinamool candidates by seeking votes in Mamata Banerjee’s name and opposing the BJP. They have betrayed the party and are now joining the BJP-led alliance. There is nothing more to say about such betrayal,” Roy said.
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