NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers and leaders of NDA allies attended the ruling coalition’s weekly meeting of parliamentarians on Tuesday.The absence of three NCPI MPs stood out amid signs of differences within the 20-member group of TMC rebels over its association with the alliance, news agency PTI reporetd.Khalilur Rahaman, Abu Taher Khan and Yusuf Pathan, who represent West Bengal’s Jangipur, Murshidabad and Baharampur Lok Sabha constituencies respectively, had also skipped the first NDA parliamentary party “Mangal Milan” meeting attended by NCPI MPs on June 28.Khan said, “We are not with the NDA, and neither are we going to the BJP, rest assured. There was an NDA meeting today also, and the three of us did not go. But we will attend the meeting called by the chief minister (Suvendu Adhikari) because it is about developmental works in my seat. We will not support any step that is against Muslims as well.”West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari also visited Parliament House during the day.Sources said the three MPs, who represent Muslim-majority constituencies, “chose to skip the NDA meeting after a section of their voters questioned their perceived association with the BJP”, PTI reported.The absence of the three MPs assumes significance as recognition of the 20-member NCPI group in the Lok Sabha is still pending before Speaker Om Birla.The breakaway group can potentially seek protection under the anti-defection law only if it accounts for at least two-thirds of the TMC’s original strength of 28 Lok Sabha MPs.NCPI floor leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay also attended the NDA parliamentary party meeting for the first time on Tuesday.He could not attend the June 28 meeting.“I am one of the senior-most parliamentarians in the country. All are united in NCPI. It is a good experience,” he said, playing down suggestions of a rift among the dissident MPs.At the meeting, held at the Parliament House complex, BJP president Nitin Nabin was seen sitting next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after the saffron party suffered a setback in Bihar’s Bankipur assembly bypoll.The Bankipur bypoll, considered a BJP bastion, was necessitated after Nabin vacated the seat following his election to the Rajya Sabha after assuming charge as BJP president.(With agency inputs)
