An all-party meeting called on Sunday, just ahead of Parliament's monsoon session, ran into trouble the moment it began, with opposition leaders getting up and walking out in protest within minutes.
TMC's rebel MPs invited to the meeting
Opposition parties are said to have been angered by the government inviting a group of dissident Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs to the meeting, a group whose separate identity within Parliament has been a matter of dispute. Congress, the Samajwadi Party, DMK, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), National Conference, Left parties and Shiv Sena (UBT) all walked out together in a coordinated show of protest.
Mahua Moitra explains the walkout
TMC MP Mahua Moitra said the list issued by the Lok Sabha's Table Office shows All India Trinamool Congress's strength at 28 members, even though the Speaker has not approved the merger of the so-called 20 rebel MPs into a separate outfit called NCPI, which she described as an unrecognised party. She pointed out that 20 disqualification petitions against these MPs are still pending, and that after the 91st constitutional amendment there is no legal room left for such a breakaway faction to exist. Moitra questioned on what basis the Parliamentary Affairs Minister invited these 20 rebel MPs to the meeting and how they came to attend it. "We have registered our strong protest," she said.
What happens next
Moitra also thanked all the opposition parties for standing together during the walkout. The episode, coming right before the monsoon session opens, signals that the standoff between the government and the opposition over the TMC rebel MPs is likely to spill into the session itself.
