New Delhi: A day after the rebel MPs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced that they would merge with the obscure Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India (NCPI), confusion reigned over the leadership of the latter party as well as the status of the merger, and how and why it was taking effect.While its president Shewly Kundu said to The Wire that she had resigned about a month ago, two other office bearers said they were not in the know of the developments taking place as the majority of the MPs of the fourth-largest party in the Lok Sabha move to merge with it.“I am no longer the president as I resigned about 20-30 days ago,” said Kundu over the phone to The Wire.When asked if she was aware of the merger with the TMC rebels prior to her resignation, Kundu said she did not have any information. When asked if she knew who the new president was who had taken her place, she responded: “That cannot be disclosed now.”On Sunday, The Wire reported that even before the merger had taken effect on the ground, murmurs of discontent had already come to the fore within the NCPI. Shantanu Dey, the party’s organisational secretary, had said to The Wire that the party should not welcome the TMC turncoats.“If the party were to merge with the BJP, I would have no problem. We admire Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and have supported the BJP in the past. But these TMC leaders, you know their record is not good in terms of corruption – Saradha, Narada, they are named in all,” Dey had said.Kundu, who is listed on social media as a journalist, ISO auditor, partner of a law firm named “No Problem Law Point” and former mathematics teacher, said to The Wire on Monday on the other hand that Dey is no longer the organisational secretary. He was only given responsibilities in the party during the 2023 Tripura assembly elections, she said.“He was only given the responsibility during the Tripura elections. He is no longer the organisational secretary. He may not even be a member anymore,” she said.However, Dey said to The Wire on Monday that the party’s constitution provides that its national committee members would hold office for four years.“According to the party’s constitution the national committee members have a tenure of four years. In that regard I am still the organisational secretary. They are changing presidents like it is a private company,” he said.Party members also said that they were not aware of how things were developing with regard to the merger.“None of us have a clear idea of what is happening, and how this merger is even taking place. We are only finding out from the media and have no clear idea about how this merger even happened,” said Titash Bhattacharya, state youth general secretary, to The Wire.“The party is not just about one person, it is an organisation, it is not a private entity. On what basis she has resigned, what has happened, we are completely in the dark about how this merger is taking place. We are happy that we will be a part of a bigger platform but the whole process is not clear to us about how things transpired.“The party is about those workers who have taken it to the people and worked on the ground in Tripura. So we are trying to understand, holding discussions about how all this happened without any discussions being held,” he added.The Wire has also reached out to vice president Uttiyo Kundu over phone and WhatsApp. The Wire has reported that the NCPI’s registered office in Howrah doubles up as the physical office for an e-newspaper and social trust named Jago Biswa.Uttiyo Kundu manages the parallel Jago Biswa and identifies himself as a mathematician, law firm partner, ISO auditor, social worker, naturopath and holder of diplomas in yoga and naturopathy.On Sunday, after a meeting with Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, the move to merge the rebel TMC MPs with the NCPI was announced by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who was one of the principal architects of the party’s parliamentary rebellion following its defeat in the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections last month.While speculation was rife over Dastidar being appointed the NCPI’s president, the Lok Sabha MP said to The Wire that she had “no idea” about it.The move to merge with the NCPI, an apparent bid to avoid the legal hurdle of disqualification, was announced by Dastidar on Sunday. She claimed that the rebel group had the support of 20 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs and they would merge with the NCPI and support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance.The Wire has reported that the party, which formed in late 2022 and was registered in 2023, has contested only the 2023 Tripura assembly elections on three seats. It is registered in West Bengal’s Howrah, though it has not contested any election in the state.The NCPI’s 2023 Tripura assembly election campaign posters on its Facebook page read: “Protect your rights by rejecting political turncoats, not politicians, join social workers”.