Kolkata: Trinamool is seeking legal opinion before moving court seeking disqualification of rebel MPs.The party’s deliberations come on the heels of senior advocate and Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Sunday calling for the disqualification of rebel MLAs and saying that rebels of Trinamool’s legislative party cannot decide to merge with another without Trinamool making the decision.In a post on X, Sibal said: “TMC rebels: Will merge with Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). Indian democracy has become the ‘theatre of the absurd’. A joke! Rebels of the TMC legislative party cannot merge with a political party, that can happen only if TMC wishes to do so.” “Disqualify them,” he added.Trinamool MP Sagarika Ghose said: “The Tenth Schedule and the Supreme Court have made it amply clear. It is the political party outside the Parliament (not party representatives sitting inside) which must first split or merge.” She argued that only upon meeting this condition can MPs or MLAs escape the anti-defection law if two-thirds choose to break away.Congress spokesperson and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said on X: “A handful of opportunists cannot manufacture a popular mandate through backroom deals and political brokerage. The anti-defection law was meant to protect democracy, not provide creative routes for its circumvention.”Meanwhile, Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, speaking to the media after being questioned for 11 hours, said: “There has been a sustained attempt over the past month to intimidate, weaken and suppress opposition forces that refuse to bow down.”“Attempts to weaken the opposition through conspiracies, defections and efforts to split party MPs and MLAs will not succeed. Those fighting for the interests of the people will not surrender to any pressure. Even if our voices are silenced, we won’t surrender. We are people who fight back,” he added.Attacking BJP, Banerjee said: “Names of eligible voters were removed from electoral rolls on the pretext of FIRs and other administrative measures. Opposition counting agents were forcibly removed through the use of pressure and force. We have all witnessed the violence that took place in the name of post-poll disturbances. The case for which I have been summoned is based on an FIR registered four years ago..”
