The Modest Howrah House at the Centre of a Parliamentary Revolt Against Mamata Banerjee

A narrow lane in Hatgachi village of Howrah’s Sankrail area leads to a modest two-storey building that, until recently, attracted little public attention. Now, the house has unexpectedly become the focal point of one of the biggest political developments in West Bengal.

The green-and-saffron-painted building serves as the registered office of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a little-known registered but unrecognised political party that shot into national prominence after a group of 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs announced their merger with it.

The move has instantly elevated the three-year-old party into the national spotlight and, on paper, made it the fifth-largest party in the Lok Sabha, behind the BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party and DMK.

The names of Uttiya Kundu and Shewly Kundu, among the party’s founders, are prominently displayed at the entrance. Uttiya is identified as a newspaper editor, mathematics teacher and yoga volunteer, while Shewly is listed as an advocate at the Calcutta High Court.

Founded in January 2023, the NCPI contested a handful of seats in the Tripura Assembly elections that year and later participated in local body polls in West Bengal. According to Shewly Kundu, who resigned from the party about a month ago, the NCPI maintained close ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance despite contesting independently.

Residents of the area said they were aware that the building housed a political party office but knew little about its activities.

On Monday, the premises were under security, with the gate locked and guarded by Central Armed Police Force personnel.

According to party general secretary Santanu Dey, discussions about forming the NCPI began in mid-2022 before its official registration in January 2023. He said the party had around 15 founding members from diverse professional backgrounds and once maintained an office in Tripura that was later shut down.

Despite the dramatic developments, confusion persisted within the party over the merger announcement. Several office-bearers said they were unaware of any formal discussions with the rebel TMC MPs until news of the move emerged.

While Dey acknowledged that merger discussions had been raised within the party, he said no formal communication had been received from the TMC lawmakers. Youth wing general secretary Titas Bhattacharya similarly welcomed the development but admitted that many party members were still trying to determine who had authorised the merger decision.

The political upheaval follows the Trinamool Congress’s defeat in last month’s West Bengal Assembly election. In the weeks since, a major split has emerged within the party, with dozens of MLAs forming a breakaway faction and a group of MPs seeking to align themselves with the obscure NCPI, thrusting the little-known outfit into the centre of a rapidly unfolding political crisis.