Kolkata: Two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs resumed their dharna on Tuesday, demanding that they be administered oath in the West Bengal assembly rather than in the Raj Bhavan as per Governor C V Ananda Bose's invite. The sit-in by Baranagar MLA Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Bhagabangola legislator Rayat Hossain Sarkar entered the fourth day as they staged the demonstration on the assembly premises on June 27, 28 and July 1. They resumed their sit-in in front of B R Ambedkar's statue in the assembly complex, demanding that the governor facilitate the oath-taking ceremony in the House, enabling them to perform their duties as legislators.
Bandyopadhyay and Sarkar, who were elected in by-polls held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections, have refused to take oath in the Raj Bhavan. The governor had invited the two MLAs to take oath in the Raj Bhavan last Wednesday. They declined the invitation, claiming that convention dictates that in the case of by-poll winners, the governor assigns the Speaker of the House or the Deputy Speaker to administer the oath. Speaker Biman Banerjee had on Monday said, “We are urging the governor to come to the assembly and himself administer the oath of office to the two MLAs."