New Party In Offing After Rebel in TMC?
Amid growing uncertainty and anti-defection anxieties among rebel parliamentary members, Vaidyanath Ghosh, son of vocal rebel leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, has announced the formation of a new political outfit named the Bahujan Nationalist Citizens Party of India (BNCPI), sources say. The development comes as former Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmakers who defected to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and aligned with the NDA fear imminent disqualification under parliamentary anti-defection provisions, sources say.
Public posters announcing the party's formation explicitly call upon Dalit, Muslim, Adivasi, and OBC communities to join the new platform, sources say. To build a targeted support base among marginalized sections, the BNCPI has outlined flagship policy promises, including dedicated scholarships for Muslim students and financial assistance packages totaling up to Rs.50 lakh, sources say.
Political analysts observe that this outreach directly targets electoral gaps, noting that the BJP did not field a single Muslim candidate in recent parliamentary or state assembly elections, sources say. The sudden launch of the BNCPI initially sparked strong annoyance among prominent rebel leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Satabdi Roy, who were caught off guard by the move, sources say. However, party strategists have since pacified both leaders by explaining the legal maneuvering behind the initiative, sources say. Because the Lok Sabha Speaker has not yet formally granted independent political party recognition to the NCPI faction, rebel leaders argue that the newly formed BNCPI serves as a distinct strategic branch, sources say.
Should disqualification proceedings reach the court, MPs can legally argue that they have joined the BNCPI rather than remaining with the unrecognised NCPI bloc, creating a technical loophole intended to safeguard their parliamentary memberships, sources say.
