Impasse over swearing-in of TMC MLAs, Speaker seeks Prez’s help

Kolkata: The row over the venue for the swearing in ceremony of two newly elected TMC MLAs intensified on Thursday as Speaker Biman Banerjee wrote to President Droupadi Murmu requesting her intervention to resolve the deadlock even as the legislators refused to take oath at Raj Bhavan as directed by Governor C V Ananda Bose and staged a dharna in the Assembly complex.

The legislators, Baranagar MLA Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Bhagabangola MLA Rayat Hossain Sarkar, insisted that the oath-taking ceremony is held in the Assembly citing the controversy over allegations of molestation of a woman at Raj Bhawan, prompting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to criticise the Governor, asserting he has “no right to obstruct the process.”