Sudip Bandyopadhyay Meets Bengal CM as NCPI MPs Get NDA meet Invite, Fueling Realignment Buzz

Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay held a closed-door interaction with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari before NCPI MPs were scheduled to attend an NDA meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, sparking speculation over the partys political future.Bandyopadhyay was among the 20 rebel TMC MPs who parted ways with the Mamata Banerjee-led party to merge with the lesser-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) weeks after the West Bengal Assembly election. The hour-long meeting at the state secretariat Nabanna on Monday evening assumes more significance as BJP sources said Adhikari had cancelled his visit to the national capital at the last moment. No official statement was issued on the topic discussed between Bandyopadhyay and Adhikari.According to sources, Adhikari spoke over the phone with some senior NCPI MPs, conveying his inability to travel to Delhi due to unspecified reasons. Based on the statements from several former Trinamool Congress MPs who later joined the NCPI, it was reported that Adhikari was expected to meet the 20 dissident parliamentarians in Delhi.

The proposed interaction had fuelled speculation over the parliamentary groups future, including the possibility of its closer alignment with the BJP. A senior NCPI MP told PTI that the scheduled meeting between Adhikari and the party MPs has been postponed and that the parliamentarians will attend the NDA meeting as scheduled.West Bengal Govt Tables 28 Pending CAG Reports, Announces Special Assembly SessionThe latest developments came after NCPI MPs received invitations to attend the NDA meeting in the national capital, lending further momentum to speculation about the fledgling partys relationship with the ruling alliance at the Centre. Adhikari had spent the day in north Bengal before returning to Kolkata. From the airport, he proceeded directly to Nabanna, where Bandyopadhyay also arrived around the same time.

Their meeting immediately became the subject of political discussion, though neither side commented on its outcome.The little-known NCPI shot into the spotlight of national politics after 20 MPs broke away from the Trinamool Congress and joined the outfit. Following the split, Bandyopadhyay and the other MPs had met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in New Delhi and sought formal recognition as a separate parliamentary group. They had also requested that they be allotted seats alongside NDA constituents in the Lok Sabha, indicating their intention to associate with the BJP-led alliance.If recognised with its current strength of 20 members, the NCPI would emerge as one of the largest allies within the NDA in the Lok Sabha. The party had earlier signalled its growing engagement with the ruling coalition by participating in the all-party meeting convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on July 19, ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament.