Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday made a dramatic offer to the party's dissident leaders, saying he was prepared to resign if they chose to return to the leadership of Mamata Banerjee.

Speaking about the growing wave of defections, Abhishek said that if resentment against him was the primary reason behind the rebellion, the leaders should rejoin the TMC. He asserted that he would relinquish his position within an hour if that helped restore unity in the party.

His remarks came as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is expected to decide on the proposed merger of 20 rebel TMC MPs with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), as well as the merger of six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, according to reports citing sources.

The Speaker is reportedly consulting legal and parliamentary experts before taking a final call on the matter.

The political crisis within the TMC intensified last month when senior MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar led a group of 20 party MPs in announcing their decision to merge with the NCPI. Around the same time, six Lok Sabha MPs from Shiv Sena (UBT) shifted allegiance to the faction headed by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Sources also indicated that Om Birla could consider the DMK's request for separate seating arrangements from the Congress in Parliament following the breakdown of ties between the two parties. The rift emerged after the Congress aligned with Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Tamil Nadu.

The recent political realignments have also seen seven Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MPs join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), further strengthening the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

At present, the NDA holds 292 seats in the Lok Sabha. If the Speaker approves both merger proposals, the alliance's strength would rise to 318 seats, bringing it significantly closer to the two-thirds majority mark in the 540-member House, where three seats remain vacant.

The shifting numbers have revived discussions over the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which seeks to expand the Lok Sabha's strength to around 850 members while enabling the implementation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, providing 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures.

According to sources, the Centre is considering reintroducing the legislation, while attempting to address concerns surrounding delimitation by proposing a uniform 50% increase in parliamentary seats across all states.

Officials believe the evolving political arithmetic, coupled with changes in opposition alliances, could improve the government's chances of securing the Bill's passage after it previously failed to obtain the required support in Parliament.