After opposition parties staged a symbolic walkout to protest the presence of 20 rebel TMC members at the all-party meeting called by the government on Jattvibeday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju asked how could the government ignore such a major bloc.“The Speaker has recognised separate seating request by the 20 MPs who have requested merger with Nationalist Citizens Party of India and acceptance as a separate bloc. How could we ignore them?” asked Rijiju after the TMC even got the Left on its side to walk out to protest the presence of the rebel Trinamool MPs at the meeting.The opposition had boycotted the meeting for a while, made its point and then returned.CPM leader John Brittas, when asked why the party supported the agenda of its arch rival TMC, said, “We didn’t support the TMC; we supported parliamentary democracy.”The TMC said that as of today the Speaker has not made the merger of the rebel 20 members with NCPI formal.“These traitor MPs are facing disqualification,” said Mahua Moitra, who represented the TMC at the meeting.