File photo: TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee & Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla
NEW DELHI: TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Monday in Parliament urging him to expedite his decision on pending petitions seeking disqualification of the 20 MPs, elected on TMC symbol, who have aligned with NCPI.Banerjee, a Lok Sabha MP, has also sought revocation of changes made to the seating arrangements of his party’s MPs to allow the rebel members to sit separately. He has submitted letters to the speaker on each of his concerns.However, the speaker did not give a clear response to the questions in connection with the rebel MPs, TMC sources claimed after the meeting, which started around 11:15 am and lasted around 20 minutes.In his first letter, Banerjee stated, “More than five weeks have elapsed since filing of the petitions. To date, no notices have been issued, no hearings have been scheduled, and no procedural directions appear to have been passed. Such continued action is a matter of grave concern.” On June 19, a TMC delegation led by Banerjee had submitted the 20 disqualification petitions to Birla.He said the urgency of the matter has been further accentuated by the decision of parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju to invite the members against whom the disqualification petitions are pending, as a separate group, to the all-party meeting held on July 19. “Such developments underscore the imperative for an expeditious determination of the petitions,” he said.In his other letter, Banerjee said, “Pending your decision on disqualification of these (20) MPs and their current status being that of a non-merger with NCPI, it is patently unjust and contrary to established parliamentary practice to alter the seating and division numbers of our MPs based solely on a unilateral request from the renegade group.”
