Dissident TMC's Basunia claims 17 of 20 NCPI MPs to join BJP soon; fellow rebels, ruling party deny

Rebel TMC MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia on Monday sparked fresh speculation in West Bengal by claiming that 17 of the 20 Lok Sabha members who broke away from the party and joined the NCPI will jump ship to the BJP soon, only to be contradicted by fellow dissident MPs and rebuffed by the saffron party.

Basunia, the Cooch Behar MP, said the 17 MPs had finalised their plans and would join the BJP together, claiming their numbers would keep them outside the ambit of the anti-defection law.

"Seventeen of our MPs are going to the BJP together. Since more than two-thirds of the 20 members will be switching, the anti-defection law will not apply to us," he told reporters in Cooch Behar.

The assertion, however, quickly exposed differences within the 20-member rebel bloc, with several MPs saying they had no knowledge of any such decision.

Later, Basunia himself qualified his remarks, stating that what he had said was his "personal opinion" and not the collective view of his NCPI colleagues.

Abu Taher Khan, one of the three Muslim MPs in the group, was categorical in rejecting the claim.

"He is not our spokesperson. There is no question of joining the BJP," Khan said, making it clear that he, Jangipur MP Khalilur Rahaman and Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan would neither join the BJP nor support the NDA.

Fellow rebel MP Satabdi Roy also said no such decision had been taken by the group so far and that Basunia had spoken in his personal capacity.

Basunia had claimed the three Muslim MPs would remain with the NCPI and support the NDA from outside, and could be given important responsibilities or portfolios, as joining the BJP could create political difficulties in their constituencies.

Khan rejected even that proposition, saying the three could attend government meetings if invited by the Prime Minister or Chief Minister on development-related matters, but would not participate in BJP or NDA meetings.

The exchange has put the spotlight back on the uncertain political future of the bloc members whose exit from the TMC has already triggered a legal battle over their parliamentary status.

Of the TMC's 27 Lok Sabha MPs, 20 announced on June 14 that they had merged with the little-known NCPI and extended support to the BJP-led NDA. They subsequently sought recognition as a separate parliamentary group.

The rebels have maintained that their move constitutes a valid merger under the anti-defection law.

Basunia also claimed that the rebels had originally planned to join the BJP directly but shifted to the NCPI after the three Muslim MPs were unwilling to cross over.

"Then the BJP leadership asked us to join the NCPI to avoid falling under the anti-defection law," he claimed.

"Under the leadership of (Union minister) Bhupendra Yadav and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, we merged with the NCPI. We held meetings at Yadav's residence several times," Basunia said.

The BJP, however, sought to distance itself from the claim, underlining the political sensitivity of absorbing a large group of former TMC MPs.

West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said the party would not induct anyone merely because they wanted to join it.

"As far as I know, no one from the TMC or NCPI is joining the BJP. People of the state have not forgotten the kind of atrocities these leaders and MPs have done during the TMC regime," he said.

He also questioned Basunia's assertion, asking whether the BJP he was referring to was "the BJP on Mars".

The prospect of a mass crossover has also exposed an unease within the saffron party, a section of which remains wary of admitting leaders who were until recently part of the TMC establishment.

BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh acknowledged the discomfort such a move could create among workers.

"If our party takes a decision, we will all abide by it. There are national political compulsions and policies. But if the MP from our area (NCPI's Sudip Bandopadhyay) joins the BJP, it will be hard to accept it in my heart," he said.

Other members of the rebel bloc said they were unaware of any such decision and said Basunia's remark was his "personal opinion".

The BJP ended the TMC's 15-year rule in the Assembly elections in May.

Bhattacharya has already said the BJP will contest the forthcoming Kolkata and Howrah municipal elections on its own strength, signalling that the BJP-NCPI partnership at the Centre may not automatically translate into an electoral arrangement in Bengal.

The NCPI, meanwhile, has indicated that it could seek an understanding with the BJP for the civic polls, with senior leaders including Sudip Bandopadhyay and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar speaking of the possibility.

The contrasting positions point to a larger political dilemma: while the rebel MPs are looking for a viable platform after quitting the TMC, the BJP's state organisation appears keen to retain its own political identity and avoid being seen as simply absorbing a bloc of former ruling-party politicians.

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC camp has seized on the controversy to portray the rebels as political opportunists.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh alleged that the dissidents were acting as BJP agents, saying they had won on TMC tickets by securing anti-BJP votes and subsequently sought to align themselves with the saffron party.

"Talking of this lack of principles, they are knocking on BJP doors -- what kind of political principle is that? How much further into a despicable and dirty space are they going to drag politics into?" he said.

"Samik Bhattacharya is like the statutory warning printed on a cigarette packet. In other words, whatever he says, we subsequently see those very things happening, irrespective of the warning he issues," Ghosh said.

Lok Sabha records continue to list the MPs as TMC members, while their demand for recognition as a separate NCPI parliamentary group remains unsettled.

Basunia's claim has laid bare the fault lines in the dissident camp, with rebel MPs reportedly eyeing the BJP, its state unit wary of taking them in and insisting on going solo in Bengal, even as the rebels' legal status remains in limbo.