Member of Parliament (MP) Abu Taher Khan, who was among the Trinamool Congress (TMC) defectors who joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituent Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) in June, on Tuesday said that he would not remain in the ruling bloc nor join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), citing Muslim interests.
“We will not support any bill that goes against the interest of Muslims. We are from Murshidabad and have to protect the interests of Muslims,” Khan said after skipping a second NDA meeting along with two other Lok Sabha members, Khalilur Rahman and Yusuf Pathan. Khan said they were giving a message by not attending the NDA meetings.
The three were among the 20 MPs who left the TMC and joined the NCPI, an unrecognised party that contested two assembly seats in Tripura and polled a few hundred votes, after the TMC lost power in West Bengal to the BJP after 15 years. The rebels announced support for the BJP-led NDA after joining the NCPI.
Khan, Rahman, and Pathan represent West Bengal’s Muslim-majority Murshidabad district.
{{/usCountry}}Khan, Rahman, and Pathan represent West Bengal’s Muslim-majority Murshidabad district.
{{/usCountry}}Sudip Bandopadhyay, the leader of the 20 MPs, separately met the Prime Minister on Monday amid speculation that they might join the BJP. The group was also due to meet West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari in Delhi on Tuesday. “Nineteen of us will attend the meeting with the chief minister. Only one is out of station,” Bandopadhyay said.
Khan said he and the two other lawmakers from Murshidabad would attend the meeting. “This is about issues relating to development projects in our constituencies,” Khan said.
In Bengal, minister Agnimitra Paul said she and her colleagues are too busy with development work to keep track of people switching sides. “We are working all day for the state’s development. We do not have the time to track who is on whose side and who is switching parties. The Prime Minister and the chief minister are there to ensure the best for our state and the nation. Nation first,” Paul said.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction said at least six of the 20 MPs are in touch with them. “The BJP is protecting them. Otherwise they would have lost their Lok Sabha membership because they won the polls on TMC tickets,” said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.
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Ghosh claimed at least 30 of the 60 TMC legislators who joined the rebel Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction were in touch with Mamata Banerjee and other leaders in their group. Ritabrata Banerjee dismissed Ghosh’s claim. “They should be more concerned about the rest of the MPs who are ready to leave,” he said.
The TMC won 29 of West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2024. One of them died months after the election. Of the remaining 28, 20 joined the NCPI on June 14, questioning TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s leadership.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC was left with nine Rajya Sabha members after Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik resigned in June, joined the BJP and were re-elected to the upper House on July 24. A fourth TMC Rajya Sabha member, actor Koel Mallick, resigned from the Rajya Sabha in July.