Kolkata, Sept. 22 -- The 20 rebel Lok Sabha MPs who quit the Trinamool Congress and joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) have sought another four weeks to respond to disqualification notices issued against them, with their earlier deadline ending on Tuesday.

NCPI parliamentary chairperson Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said the MPs had approached the Lok Sabha Secretariat seeking more time to compile documents required for their replies. The Secretariat had on August 26 asked the MPs to respond to a petition by Abhishek Banerjee seeking their disqualification from the Lok Sabha.

The MPs had initially sought three weeks to submit their replies, which was granted. "Now we need some more time as 20 MPs are yet to collate all the documents. So we have sought four more weeks," Ghosh Dastidar said.

The request comes amid continued uncertainty over the political alignment of the 20 MPs. Rebel MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia recently claimed that 17 of the 20 NCPI MPs would join the BJP before or after Durga Puja. The claim was disputed by fellow dissident MPs, while the BJP also distanced itself from it.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh criticised the rebels for seeking additional time, questioning why they needed so long to respond to the notices.

"Why are they being given so much time? They won on anti-BJP votes and are now acting as the BJP's B-team. They cannot even let people know which team they belong to, which shows how politically bankrupt they are," Ghosh said.

He said the Speaker should not give them "a single day" and alleged that they could nevertheless receive another extension because they were "working together" with the BJP.

Ghosh Dastidar declined to respond to the remarks, saying: "It is for the court and the Lok Sabha to decide."

Despite the political realignment, Lok Sabha records continue to list the MPs as TMC members. Their request for recognition as a separate NCPI parliamentary group is also yet to be settled.Banerjee had moved petitions before the Speaker in June seeking their disqualification under the Tenth Schedule. The Supreme Court on August 25 issued notices to the 20 MPs on Banerjee's plea seeking an expeditious decision by the Speaker.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.