In a shot in the arm for the rebel faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs, veteran party leader and six-time MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay Sunday signalled that he could join them as the dissidents prepare to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday to urge him to recognise them as a separate bloc and allow them to sit alongside the MPs of the ruling BJP-led NDA in the House.

The development has caused a fresh setback for TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, with the party unravelling in the wake of its debacle in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections.

Bandyopadhyay landed in Delhi along with rebel TMC MP Satabdi Roy, following which they were seen entering the official residence of Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, who was the BJP’s in-charge for the Bengal polls.

A group of dissident TMC MPs also had a meeting at Yadav’s residence earlier this week.

According to reports, Bandyopadhyay later also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. While Bandyopadhyay did not make any comments, and the details of his meeting with the BJP leadership were not immediately known, the signal from the rebel TMC camp was that they had managed to enlist his support. Bandyopadhyay’s wife Nayna Bandyopadhyay is a TMC MLA in Bengal.

The rebel camp on Friday claimed that they have the support of 19 MPs,

which account for two-thirds of the party’s Lok Sabha strength of 28 members. If Bandyopadhyay, a former leader of the TMC parliamentary party in the Lower House, joins them, their number would rise to 20.

Bandyopadhyay’s switch to the rebel party faction would deal a severe blow to Mamata as he is among the party’s founding members who is considered as one of her close associates.

The TMC leadership had last August appointed the party national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP, Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata’s nephew, as its new parliamentary party leader in the Lok Sabha, replacing Bandopadhyay. He has been grappling with health issues for some time. Sources in the dissident camp said they are slated to have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in Delhi Sunday before meeting Speaker Birla on Monday in a bid to formally break away from the TMC and form a separate bloc. The TMC is currently the third largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha after the Congress and the Samajwadi Party.

The rebel MPs want the Speaker to recognise them as the “real TMC”. Mamata has already lost control of her Legislature Party in Bengal after about 60 of the party’s 80 MLAs formed a separate bloc and elected Ritabrata Banerjee as their leader.

Speaking to The Indian Express Friday, rebel TMC MP from Cooch Behar,

Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, said their faction has the support of 19 MPs and that their “door is open for any other MP who wants to come”. “We want to be recognised as the real TMC, we want to sit separately, and we want to be part of the NDA,” he said.

Asked whether the dissident TMC MPs and MLAs would approach the Election Commission (EC) to seek recognition of their faction as the “real TMC”, Basunia said they would urge the Speaker to recognise them as a separate bloc first before moving the EC. “Avashya jeyenge (we will definitely approach the EC),” he said.

For its part, the TMC said the rebel party MPs seeking recognition as a separate parliamentary group would face disqualification under the anti-defection law if they back the NDA. Former TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said the Constitution’s 91st Amendment removed provisions relating to a party’s split, arguing that forming a separate parliamentary bloc enjoyed “zero protection under law”.

“A merger needs the whole party to merge and not just the legislative party. They can merge only if the entire TMC merged with BJP which is not happening in our lifetimes. Therefore, forget 20 MPs or two-third. Even if they had 25 out of 28 signatures, they can’t merge with BJP,” Gokhale said.

Hours after Sudip’s meeting with Bhupender, the TMC leadership removed him from his post as the party’s North Kolkata district president, replacing him with Mamata loyalist and party MLA Kunal Ghosh. Sudip represents Kolkata Uttar in the Lok Sabha.

The TMC also removed another rebel MP Saayoni Ghosh as the party’s youth wing chief, replacing her with Arnab Banerjee.

Senior party MP Saugata Roy was appointed as the “advisor” of the TMC parliamentary party.