Kolkata: Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee has sought the intervention of Vice-President (VP) Jagdeep Dhankhar to resolve the impasse created over the oath-taking ceremony of two newly elected MLAs of Trinamool Congress.
The Speaker called up Vice-President Dhankhar on Thursday evening and requested the latter to look into the matter. Banerjee also informed Dhankhar that he wrote to President Droupadi Murmu regarding the issue. Dhankhar was Governor of Bengal from July 2019- July 2022.
The two newly-elected TMC MLAs - Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Reyat Hossain Sarkar- had earlier requested Governor CV Ananda Bose if their swearing in ceremony could be done in the Assembly. Conventionally, in the case of by-polls or in situations where newly elected MLAs need to take oath, the governor delegates the responsibility of administering oath to either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The two newly elected MLAs Sayantika Bandyopadhyay from Baranagar and Reyat Houssen Sarkar from Bhagawangola failed to take oath following a row over the venue of the swearing-in ceremony. They staged a dharna on the Assembly compound on Thursday.
Both the legislators refused to take oath at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday as directed by Governor CV Ananda Bose. Instead, they sat before the statue of B R Ambedkar demanding that the Governor permit them to perform the duty of elected public representatives by facilitating the oath-taking ceremony inside the Assembly. Both resumed their dharna on Friday for the second consecutive day before the BR Ambedkar statue in the assembly complex.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday criticized the Governor for the delay and confusion over the swearing-in ceremony of two newly-elected MLAs.
She also supported their demand that either the Governor come to the Assembly to administer the oath or nominate the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker to do the same.