TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee has also been summoned on June 16 by the CID in connection with the DJ remarks case.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee has also been summoned on June 16 by the CID in connection with the DJ remarks case.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee has also been summoned on June 16 by the CID in connection with the DJ remarks case.

After almost six hours of questioning by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday, Abhishek Banerjee was probed again for more than eight hours on Sunday in connection with the signature forgery case.

Abhishek reached the Bhawani Bhawan, the headquarters of the CID, at around 11:40 AM and left at around 8:35 PM. The questioning reportedly began at around 12:00 PM.

Investigators are still not satisfied with answers provided on the original copy of the resolution and events surrounding the decisions taken on the signatures backing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly.

These include the May 6 and May 19 meetings at Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence after the Assembly election results.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Kunal Ghosh was also summoned by the CID in the same case at around 3:20 PM.

Ghosh, the TMC state spokesperson in the Mamata Banerjee camp, said he "had cooperated” as a witness.

Investigators are likely to call Abhishek again for questioning.

The TMC MP has also been summoned on June 16 by the CID in connection with the DJ comment case, related to controversial remarks he made at Arambagh in the Hooghly district, ahead of the Assembly elections.

On June 15, Abhishek has been summoned by Enforcement Directorate's (ED) Salt Lake office in connection with the primary teachers' recruitment scam.

Meanwhile, Mamata faces a dilemma with at least 20 TMC MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar on Sunday announcing a merger with Tripura’s Nationalist Citizen’s Party of India (NCPI) and extend support to NDA. Sudip Bandhopadhyay is the 20th MP to join the rebel bloc on Sunday with his presence at New Delhi.

A meeting of rebel MPs was held at Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav’s residence for a second time in a week, following which the MPs regrouped at Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s residence.

The reasons for the rebel TMC bloc merging with the NCPI is 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 Sudip Bandyopadhyay.

Meanwhile TMC MPs Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghose reached the Lok Sabha Speaker’s residence on Sunday to submit a letter written by Abhishek.

In the letter, Abhishek urges the Speaker to look at the parent faction of TMC as the original entity, and that the party itself should be viewed as a single, indivisible political party.

He also urged the Speaker to decline recognition to the other faction from the TMC.

“The AITC is a single, indivisible political party. The legislative party in the Lok Sabha derives its very existence from, and remains an emanation of, the political party. There is in law only one AITC, one Leader of the Party in the House, and one Whip—all of whom hold office by authority of the political party and its competent organisational authority. No member or set of members can, by their own volition, carve out a parallel 'group' or 'faction' of the same party and claim independent recognition within the House," the letter read.

“A split cannot take place. The (Supreme Court) judgement in connection with Maharashtra clearly mentions that (a split) is illegal,” said Kirti Azad.

Ghose slammed the decision of the rebel MPs.

“This reflects your moral weakness that when the party loses you abandon that party, that leader, that symbol on which you won," she added.

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