New Delhi, June 14 -- After meeting Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday, rebel TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said 20 rebel Lok Sabha MPs are merging with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party.

"Moving forward, we will work for the nation and collaborate with the NDA [National Democratic Alliance] under the leadership of the Prime Minister [Narendra Modi]," Ghosh said.

She claimed the support of 20 Lok Sabha MPs. The TMC has 28 members in the Lok Sabha. The rebels need two-thirds of the bloc of 19 MPs to avoid disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

"We, the 20 MPs elected from the AITC, met the Speaker and submitted a letter requesting to sit separately; these 20 MPs constitute more than two-thirds of our ...