KOLKATA: MPs of Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India (NCPI) — the youngest bloc in Lok Sabha — are being tipped for berths in the Union council ministers a day after 20 MPs rebelled against Trinamool and joined the party.Kolkata (North) MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay and East Burdwan MP Sharmila Sarkar were said to be among those being considered for ministers of state positions if discussions moved forward, those in the know said. Both MPs, however, claimed they did not have any such information.“It was only on Sunday that we decided to merge with NCPI. There was a discussion in the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chamber on a room being allotted to us. There was no discussion beyond that,” Bandyopadhyay said in a video message posted on the NCPI Facebook page. “Those who are spreading such rumours are trying to break our unity.”Bandyopadhyay’s security cover has been upgraded to Y category, similar to that of Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who was one of the first to rebel against the Trinamool leadership. She is being tipped to head NCPI. “We will meet before July to decide on the LS leader, deputy leader and chief whip,” Birbhum MP Satabdi Roy told TOI. Sarkar, a first-time MP, dismissed the reports as well after returning from Delhi. “I have no information,” she said.Bengal has two BJP ministers of state in the Union government: Sukanta Majumdar and Santanu Thakur.There seems to be a lot of confusion within the 20-MP bloc itself about their or NCPI’s future. Bandyopadhyay said on Sunday they had not abandoned their plans to claim the Trinamool name and symbol and Bankura MP Arup Chakraborty told PTI Videos on Monday that they had not left Trinamool. “We will fight for the party symbol. We have 20 members, why should we not?” he asked. But another NCPI MP, Abu Taher Khan, said the group was waiting for further instructions from its leadership.Sudip Bandyopadhyay explained on Monday why he decided to part ways with Mamata Banerjee. “MPs started saying they were unable to work in the party. A meeting of the MLAs was called. Even MLAs in their eighties were told to stand up and applaud Abhishek Banerjee. Later, when a meeting of MPs was called, we were not allowed to talk about the problems we faced.”He added: “I will not say I have joined (NCPI) right now. I plan to stay with PM Narendra Modi.”
