India, July 15 -- Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is set to allot new division numbers or seats to 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs who joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) last month, and two of them are set to attend the upcoming all-party meeting ahead of the monsoon session, in what is a de-facto recognition of the controversial merger and the young outfit in Parliament.

Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is set to be the chief whip of the NCPI in the Lower House, told HT, "We had met the speaker. He has assured that we will get an office in the Parliament and he will allot us new seats. Our two representatives will attend the all-party meeting on July 19."

Following the electoral debacle of the Mamata Banerjee-l...