Dev said NCPI has aligned with the NDA because it recognises Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its leader, and that the party does not consider Rahul Gandhi its leader — which, she said, is precisely why it has come to the NDA's side. She called it the party's own decision. Dev pushed back against those criticising the move, arguing that no one should comment on the matter until the Lok Sabha Speaker actually rules on it, since a decision from the Speaker's office is still pending.

Turning to the question of defections more broadly, Dev said she wanted to respectfully put a question to Rahul Gandhi. She pointed to the merger of BRS MLAs into the Congress in Telangana, noting that the Speaker in that case took two years to issue any decision — a delay that eventually forced BRS to approach the courts. She asked what Rahul Gandhi's position was on that episode, framing it as a case where the same principle now being invoked against NCPI had gone unaddressed for far longer when it worked in Congress's favour.

Dev's remarks came after the NDA parliamentary group's regular weekly meeting, held Tuesday at Parliament House. The gathering marked the first time MPs who had recently broken away from Trinamool Congress and merged with NCPI attended in person, following the invitation extended to the party ahead of the Monsoon Session.

The comments add another layer to the ongoing dispute over NCPI's political status, with its formal recognition question still sitting before the Lok Sabha Speaker even as its MPs continue attending NDA-aligned meetings in practice.