Congress chief Sonia seeks report on MLAs signing bond

Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi has sought a detailed report on WBPCC president Adhir Chowdhury’s decision to take undertaking from party’s MLAs on Tuesday.

The 44 elected MLAs have given an undertaking on a Rs 100 stamp paper that they would not quit the party and would not speak anything against it. Gandhi has asked CP Joshi, AICC member in-charge of West Bengal to give a detailed report on the matter. 

This is for the first time that such an undertaking was taken by a state president since the inception of the party in 1885. It was learnt that he did not take any permission from AICC before taking such a major decision.  

Political experts said that there was an anti-defection law passed by the Centre and the elected representatives in the country were governed by the law.  So taking an undertaking by the MLAs was a futile exercise. It was learnt that Chowdhury was advised by a lawyer who was defeated by a Trinamool Congress candidate in the recently concluded election. 

They said that this had shown nervousness of Chowdhury who could not trust his MLAs. “Such undertakings have no legal basis and this is coercion,” said a veteran Congress leader.

Infighting in the Congress has come up in the open over this issue. Most of PCC leaders do not have speaking term with Chowdhury. The leaders thought that they could only survive by making an alliance with the Left and since Chowdhury had taken the initiative being WBPCC president they had all kept quiet. 

But after the poll debacle the Congress leaders have returned back to their old form and started criticising Chowdhury.