New Delhi, June 14 -- NEW DELHI - On Monday, nineteen Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MPs will walk into the Speaker's office and ask Om Birla to do something that Parliament specifically legislated against twenty-three years ago. They want to be recognized as the real TMC, a claim that would let them operate as a separate parliamentary group without losing their seats. The Constitution was rewritten in 2003 to eliminate exactly this kind of maneuver. The rebels are betting that political reality will overrule constitutional text.

The faction, led by four-term Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, submitted a formal representation to the Speaker's office last week. Rebel MP Jagadish Barma Basunia confirmed the Monday meeting and told reporters,...