17 rebel TMC MPs likely to join BJP after Durga Puja?

Kolkata: Rebel TMC MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia has claimed that 17 of the 20 Lok Sabha members aligned with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) will join the BJP before or after Durga Puja, a claim promptly disputed by fellow dissidents.

The BJP sought to distance itself from the claim, with its West Bengal unit chief Samik Bhattacharya saying the party would not take in anyone merely because they want to join it.

Lashing out at the dissident TMC MPs, the party’s Mamata Banerjee camp called the move “an act of traitors” who have “sacrificed principles at the altar of political opportunism”.

Basunia said 17 MPs have finalised plans to join the BJP together and the number would be sufficient to keep them outside the purview of the anti-defection law.

“Seventeen of our MPs are going to the BJP together. Since more than two-thirds of the 20 members will be switching, the anti-defection law will not apply to us,” he told reporters.

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The Hans India