In an unprecedented move, both the Left Front and Congress MLAs on Tuesday boycotted the first meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by Manas Bhunia. AICC member in charge of West Bengal CP, Joshi had requested Bhunia to step down. The party MLAs had also written a letter to him requesting him to quit the post. However, paying no heed to their requests, Bhunia held the meeting. It may be recalled that Congress and Left Front legislators had staged a walkout after the Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay announced Bhunia’s name as the chairman of PAC.
WBPCC president had made a statement that CPI(M) had requested him to nominate Sujan Chakraborty for the post. However, CPI(M) in its Bengali mouthpiece Ganashakti had denied its report in its Sunday edition.
The Congress had sent the names of four legislators headed by Bhunia to the Speaker. The Speaker accordingly announced his name. On July 4, Abdul Mannan wrote a letter to the Speaker requesting him to make Chakraborty the chairman of PAC. Speaker had turned down the request and went ahead with his decision.
Bhunia said that those who did not turn up for the meeting had insulted the chair which was a constitutional post. The PAC chairman can play a major role in pulling up the state government in cases where wasteful expenditure has taken place; it can pull up a minister also. It scrutinises the CAG report and takes action in according to that.