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20 MPs who rebelled against Trinamool Congress (TMC) have announced that they are merging their faction with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). The rebel group has also informed Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about this. Now a leader of NCPI has opposed the inclusion of rebel TMC MPs in the party. Party’s Organization General Secretary Shantanu Dey has said that these people have come here after doing wrong work, hence it is not right to take them into the party. On the other hand, no official statement has been issued by NCPI yet.

Not much information about this party is publicly available. According to the posters put up during the elections held in Tripura in the year 2023, Shewali Kundu is the president of the party and her husband Uttiyo Kundu is the vice president. Shantanu Dey is the organization general secretary of the party. According to the rules, if MLAs of any party or two-thirds of the members of the parliamentary party join any other party, then action cannot be taken against them under the anti-defection law.

There is no consensus in NCPI?

Talking to India Today, Shantanu Dey said, ‘Since morning I have also been getting news that people are joining but my thinking is that these people have come here doing something wrong. The public has boycotted these people. In such a situation, as the Organization General Secretary of the party, I would say that it would not be right to take these people into the party.

‘The Wire’ also spoke to the same Shantanu Dey. Shantanu Dey said, ‘If the party wanted to merge with BJP, I had no problem. I am a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and we have also supported BJP in the past but the record of these TMC leaders is not good. Be it any corruption case, like Sharda, Narada etc., his name figures in all of them.

Shantanu Dey has said that he or the party workers will not support the inclusion of such tainted people in the party. He also told that the number of members of this party is around one thousand. He also says that he led the party in Tripura elections but this decision was taken without consulting him and this is wrong. Shantanu says he cannot support this. Interestingly, the slogan of NCPI contesting the Tripura assembly elections in 2023 was ‘Oppose the turncoats to protect your rights.’