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Amid the ongoing political churn within the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and a major split involving MPs joining the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and extending support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), BJP MP Soumitra Khan on Monday said the party will abide by whatever decision is taken by the central leadership.
"Whatever the central leadership - PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Nitin Nabin - says, we will follow that. If NCPI wants to join hands with NDA, we would not say no. What the parliamentary board decides, we will abide by that," Khan told reporters. His remarks come at a time when a significant political realignment is unfolding in West Bengal, with rebel leaders from the AITC breaking ranks and forming a new party. Rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar on Sunday confirmed that 20 Lok Sabha MPs have merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and will extend support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). She said the group met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and submitted a letter seeking separate seating arrangements in Parliament, claiming they constitute more than two-thirds of the party's strength. "We, the twenty MPs elected from the AITC, met the Speaker and submitted a letter requesting to sit separately; these twenty MPs constitute more than two-thirds of our total strength. We are merging with the Nationalist Citizens Party. Moving forward, we will work for the nation and collaborate with the NDA under the leadership of the Prime Minister," Dastidar said. The developments come amid a widening political crisis in the TMC, where 58 MLAs under the leadership of expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee in West Bengal have rebelled against the party. In addition, three Rajya Sabha MPs, including Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Baraik, have also resigned from their upper house and party membership. (ANI)
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