Abhishek-Rahul Meet Fuels Merger Rumours After Sonia-Didi Talks

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee met Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday at 10 Janpath in the national capital. The meeting comes amidst the continuous resignations of leaders and the ongoing political crisis within the TMC. Earlier on Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee met Congress Parliamentary Chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence in New Delhi.

The meeting has given fuel to ongoing speculations about the possible Congress-TMC merger, which TMC has refuted on Wednesday. 

Sources said the two leaders are learnt to have discussed the strategy between the two parties going forward after the opposition bloc meeting, and following an exodus of Trinamool MPs after the party's defeat to the BJP in the recent West Bengal polls.

While both the parties did not disclose details of the meeting, the sources said Banerjee is learnt to have stressed on opposition unity, and asserted that the INDIA bloc should work together in taking on the BJP on various issues, including those concerning the public.

At the opposition alliance meeting on Monday, Banerjee had urged all the constituents to forget the past and stand united.

Earlier in the day, TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev resigned from the primary membership of the party, while affirming that she doesn't want a situation where she is in "two boats." "What prompted me to take this decision is a very long story. In politics, I don't think everything needs to be revealed. I did not want to be in a situation where I was in two boats. That is not the right way to do politics," she said.

On June 8, Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray resigned as a member of the Upper House of Parliament and from the primary membership of the TMC. In his resignation, Ray slammed the TMC over its massive defeat in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections. He termed the verdict as an outcome of the "15-year anarchical rule" of the Mamata Banerjee-led party. The series of resignations came amidst the ongoing speculations of a split in the TMC, with about 20 Lok Sabha MPs rebelling.

Rebel TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar had confirmed to ANI that a faction of 20 MPs has formally requested the Lok Sabha Speaker for separate seating arrangements.

She said, "We are 20 MPs who have requested the Speaker for separate seating, and we will be working in conjunction of the Central and State Government for the development of West Bengal". Rebel MPs meeting Union Minister and BJP West Bengal election in-charge Bhupender Yadav and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, has sparked speculation of the faction merging with the NDA.As per the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, also known as the anti-defection law, the rebel MPs would require a merger with 2/3rd majority to avoid disqualification.