NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the response of 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs on a plea filed by the party’s general secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee, challenging the delay in deciding petitions seeking their disqualification.Abhishek has asked the top court to direct Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to expeditiously decide the disqualification petitions pending before him against the rebel MPs.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Secretary General of the House.

The Supreme Court asked Mehta to obtain instructions from the Speaker on the matter.The development comes months after a major political setback for the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, following a stinging defeat at the hands of the BJP.The setback was followed by a split within the TMC, with a group of 20 Lok Sabha MPs breaking away from the party under the leadership of Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, once considered a close Mamata loyalist who later turned into a vocal critic.The rebel MPs formed a separate grouping, known as the NCPI, with Dastidar leading the faction.