Senior Congress leaders of West Bengal to meet the party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to discuss the future of defiant Congress leader Manas Bhunia, sources said. Bhunia was appointed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman amid opposition by his own party, which wanted to offer the post to Sujan Chakraborty. His name was announced as the chairman by Speaker Biman Banerjee, who later told mediapersons that he had followed the convention by offering the post to the main Opposition.
While a miffed state Congress went on to inform the party high command about Bhunia’s ‘anti-party’ activity, the Sabang MLA claimed he was never “officially informed about the party’s stand.” The state Congress president in West Bengal Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the former state president Pradip Bhattacharya will come to Delhi on Monday to attend the Monsoon session. Sources said, the duo are going to meet Rahul Gandhi at the same time to rake up the issue.
On the contrary, Bhunia alleged that Chowdhury and Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan were ‘conspiring’ against him and humiliating him. He urged Adhir Chowdhury to allow him to serve as PAC for one year in the face of repeated calls by party leaders and legislators to step down.
The senior Congress leader wondered what wrong he had done by accepting the post, citing the rule book of the Assembly. Bhunia also claimed that Mannan had deliberately misguided the party and that he and Adhir were trying to project him as an ‘anti-party’ activist.
This came on a day when Congress and Left Front MLAs again did not attend the PAC meeting called by Bhunia in the state Assembly. Other than Bhunia, only members of the ruling Trinamool Congress attended the meeting.
While appealing to all PAC members to attend the meeting, held every Wednesday and Friday, Bhunia told media persons that CPM MLA Sujan Chakraborty had promised that he would attend the next meeting.