New Delhi

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will hear the defected TMC MPs as well as the faction led by Mamata Banerjee before deciding on giving recognition to the breakaway faction, sources said. Meanwhile, sources from the Mamata-led TMC said that on Monday, its leader Abhishek Banerjee was called for a meeting with Birla at a two-hour notice when he was still being questioned by the ED. TMC sources said Banerjee got an email from the speaker’s office at around 2 pm on Monday, asking him to meet Birla at 4 pm. Soon after, the speaker’s office called party MP Kirti Azad and told him about the email. Azad, in response, informed the speaker’s office that Banerjee was “committed to cooperating with all investigative agencies” and was cooperating with the investigation at the ED office in CGO complex in Kolkata, sources said. Later in the day, Azad also met the speaker to inform him about the email.

The sources added that Banerjee returned after questioning only around midnight. The communication came as around 20 TMC MPs announced they were merging with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and said they would later stake claim to be recognised as the “real TMC”.

Earlier, sources from Parliament said Birla is likely to seek legal opinion on the defected leaders’ demand to be recognised as a separate group after a proposed merger with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).