Kolkata: Trinamool Congress has found it “disrespectful” after Governor C V Ananda Bose’ in a letter to the newly elected MLAs said that a person nominated by him would conduct their swearing-in ceremony.
It has triggered a controversy as on such occasions the Governor usually hands over this responsibility to the Speaker. In his letter, the Governor said that the swearing-in of the newly elected MLAs would take place on June 26.
The letter also said that a person nominated by the Raj Bhawan would carry out the swearing-in. Trinamool Congress (TMC) Parliamentary party has also raised questions on the intention of the Governor’s letter to the newly elected MLAs.
Trinamool Congress recently won by-elections in two Assembly seats — Baranagar and Bhagwangola. Bhagwangola MLA did not, however, receive the Governor’s letter yet.
The uncertainty was looming over the swearing-in of the newly elected MLA for the past few days, allegedly due to the lack of response from Raj Bhavan.
The Baranagar Assembly seat went for bypolls during the Lok Sabha elections in Bengal. The seat was eventually bagged by Trinamool Congress’ Sayantika Banerjee after a close battle with BJP’s Sajal Ghosh.
Banerjee won by a margin of approximately 8,148 votes. However, despite the victory she is yet to take the oath of MLA without which she is unable to sign on any document which requires the signature of a lawmaker.
Even Bhagwangola MLA Reyat Hossain Sarkar is yet to take oath as an MLA.
Following the resignation as MLA by then TMC leader Tapas Roy who joined BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections, an uncertainty was created as to when the seat will again get a new MLA.
But even after the by-elections, the problem seems to have remained the same for too long as the Governor remained silent.
Sources in the state government said that despite a letter being sent to Raj Bhavan from the Parliamentary Affairs department seeking a nod for the oath-taking event, Governor Bose allegedly did not reply for long.