NEW DELHI: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday took a swipe at the breakaway Trinamool Congress (TMC) faction that has merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), claiming that “not only humans, but also Bangladeshi political parties are infiltrating India”.His remarks came amid the escalating battle for control of the TMC after 20 rebel MPs announced their merger with the NCPI, a little-known registered but unrecognised political party based in Tripura.Speaking in Murshidabad, Chowdhury drew a parallel between the BJP’s longstanding campaign against illegal immigration from Bangladesh and the emergence of the NCPI in Indian politics.”For so long, we have been hearing that Bangladeshi infiltrators are entering India and that these infiltrators need to be driven out. They say ‘detect, delete and deport’. But today, I see that even political parties from Bangladesh are infiltrating,” he said. Referring to the NCPI, Chowdhury claimed that the party had its origins in the student-led movement that emerged in Bangladesh during the protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.”This Nationalist Citizens Party of India, the party you are talking about, was born in Bangladesh during the protests against Sheikh Hasina. Today, by calling them infiltrators, the National Citizen Party has reached Delhi,” he said.Taking a further dig at the BJP, Chowdhury alleged that forces aligned with the ruling party were attempting to alter the identity of the Trinamool Congress.”Those who support the BJP are trying to change the identity and name of the TMC. Therefore, Amit Shah needs to be cautious because not only humans, but also Bangladeshi political parties are infiltrating India,” he said.The remarks come a day after 20 rebel TMC MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and announced that they were merging with the NCPI. The MPs also sought separate seating arrangements in Parliament and have indicated they will back the BJP-led NDA.Rebel MP Arup Chakraborty insisted that the group had not abandoned the Trinamool Congress and would instead seek control of the party itself.”We have not left TMC; we’re in TMC and trying to rectify the party. We will fight for the party symbol,” Chakraborty said, asserting that the rebel camp would stake claim to the party’s iconic twin-flower election symbol.Former Union minister and veteran MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who joined the rebel faction, also said the group would move court seeking recognition as the “real” Trinamool Congress.The Mamata Banerjee-led camp, however, has dismissed the move as legally untenable. TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose argued that under the anti-defection law, a political party itself must merge or split before legislators can claim protection from disqualification.Senior TMC leader Saugata Roy accused the rebel MPs of betraying the mandate on which they were elected and alleged that they had joined an “obscure” party to circumvent anti-defection provisions.The political battle is not confined to Parliament. In West Bengal, 64 of the Trinamool Congress’s 80 MLAs have already broken away and secured recognition as a separate legislative formation under Ritabrata Banerjee, a move that has been challenged by the Mamata Banerjee camp in the Calcutta high court.
