A day before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Centre-convened all-party meeting on Sunday witnessed a brief walkout by Opposition parties over the government's decision to invite the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a grouping of rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs whose status remains under dispute.
The meeting was held at the Parliament Annexe building ahead of the Monsoon Session, which begins on July 20.
The Opposition termed the invitation to the NCPI "unconstitutional", calling the outfit an "unrecognised political party", and accused the Centre of engineering defections and "murdering democracy".
Speaking to reporters after the walkout, TMC MP Saugata Roy questioned the government's decision to invite the NCPI despite it not being recognised as a political party.
"An unrecognised party has been called to this meeting. There is no provision for a separate bloc, so why have they been invited by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister?" Roy asked.
Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav said the issue was raised at the very beginning of the meeting. Referring to the list of MPs circulated by the Table Office, he said the TMC has 28 MPs, but despite that, the group of 20 rebel MPs was invited to attend the meeting.
"The Speaker has not yet taken any decision on the disqualification petition. The entire process being followed by the government is undemocratic and unconstitutional," he said, adding that the Opposition remained united despite the Centre's alleged attempts to create divisions.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh described the walkout as a symbolic protest, saying the NCPI had effectively been granted recognition even though the Speaker was yet to decide on the status of the rebel MPs.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra said the protest was joined by the Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, JMM, Aam Aadmi Party, National Conference, Left parties and Shiv Sena (UBT). She argued that following the 91st Constitutional Amendment, there was no provision for recognising a separate bloc of legislators while disqualification petitions remained pending.
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said recognising the rebel faction before the Speaker's decision was unconstitutional.
"The case regarding the split in the Trinamool Congress is still pending. No decision has been taken yet, so how was a notification issued? How was a separate bloc recognised and invited? We cannot stand with such an unconstitutional step," he said.
CPI MP P. Sandosh Kumar termed the walkout a protest against the "undemocratic approach" of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
"They allowed the so-called Trinamool Congress dissidents to attend the all-party meeting, which is completely unacceptable. The ruling party is engineering defections in political parties, which is not good for a healthy democracy," he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant also questioned the legal basis for granting recognition to the rebel MPs, saying there was no such provision in law.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP N.D. Gupta drew parallels with his party's own dispute, alleging that seven of AAP's 10 Rajya Sabha MPs had been "hijacked" while their case remained pending. Despite that, he claimed they had been allotted separate seating in the House.
"In our case, the petition is still pending, yet they have been given separate seats. This is nothing but a hijack and murder of democracy," Gupta said.
JMM MP Mahua Maji alleged that political parties were being systematically weakened by luring away elected representatives, saying such practices posed a threat to democratic values.
The brief walkout highlighted growing tensions between the NDA government and the Opposition ahead of what is expected to be a politically charged Monsoon Session of Parliament.
