The crisis within the Trinamool Congress deepened on Sunday after 20 rebel MPs decided to merge their faction with a little-known party, the Nationalist Citizens Party of India, and extend support to the NDA.

The rebel MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and submitted a letter announcing their decision to merge with the party and extend support to the BJP-led alliance. According to sources, the rebel TMC MPs opted to associate themselves with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India due to legal complications in forming a separate parliamentary bloc.

“We have joined the Nationalist Citizens Party. It is a recognised regional party. We have merged with it. It will be decided in court which is the real TMC,” said TMC rebel MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay.

The latest political development comes hours after the rebel faction regrouped at the Speaker’s residence in New Delhi following a meeting with Union Minister Bhupender Yadav.

Subsequently, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker, urging him to treat the TMC as a single political party and not accord recognition or facilities to any separate faction.