India, June 16 -- The 20 lawmakers who quit the Trinamool Congress to join the Nationalist Citizens Party of India -- and who have indicated their support for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance -- will mirror, in terms of their hierarchy in the new party, that of their former one.

"The discussions are going on. There is no change. The earlier arrangement would continue," said Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the face of the rebel MPs. According to two people familiar with the matter, Dastidar will be chief whip of the NCPI, a post she held for sometime in the TMC before being replaced by Kalyan Banerjee.

Veteran MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, who was the TMC's floor leader in the Lower House before fellow lawmaker Abhishek Banerj...