Speaker convenes spl Assembly session, says ‘everything not in hands of Guv’

Kolkata: Amid the ongoing impasse over the swearing-in of two newly elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs, Speaker Biman Banerjee on Thursday called for a special session of the West Bengal Assembly.

He said that the House’s functions are not solely dependent on the Governor.

Meanwhile, in regards to reports that the Governor on Thursday paved the way for the oath-taking of two MLAs and appointed deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee, the latter while speaking to Millennium Post claimed that he has not yet received any communique from Raj Bhawan in this regard.

“I have not received any communique from Raj Bhawan yet. Even if I had received it I would not have administered the oath as I think it is an insult to the chair of the Speaker who had written to the Governor to come to the Assembly and the Speaker would welcome the Governor. Why should the Governor appoint me for oath taking then?” asked the Deputy Speaker Banerjee.

The Speaker told the media on Thursday that the Business Advisory Committee meeting has been scheduled for noon on Friday and the tenure of the session will be decided in the meeting. “The Special Session will begin at 2 pm tomorrow,” he said. Incidentally, the swearing-in of two MLAs is yet to take place as the Governor did not administer oath at the Assembly.

Bose instead urged the MLAs to visit Raj Bhawan to take oath which was denied by both the MLAs. They wanted to take oath in the Assembly.

“If someone thinks that we are helpless, then he or she is wrong. The Assembly is not helpless and everything is not in the hands of the Governor. You can’t just force everything down our throats; there are rules, regulations, and constitutional norms. All of us have to abide by them,” Banerjee said while speaking to the reporters.

Meanwhile, the two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs staged a sit-in protest at the Assembly premises for the sixth day on Thursday, demanding that they be administered the oath of office in the House rather than at Raj Bhavan, following an invitation from Governor C V Ananda Bose.

Baranagar MLA Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Bhagabangola legislator Rayat Hossain Sarkar began their sit-in protest on June 27 and continued on June 28, July 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Speculation has been going on that the oath-taking ceremony may happen at the Assembly premises within the next couple of days as the Speaker hinted that the Assembly is not all “helpless” and if the Governor thinks so he is wrong.

Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Thursday without taking a name attacked the Governor for his alleged noncooperation in this regard.

In a post on X, he said that he has no role to play legally in the oath-taking ceremony that is in discussion. It may happen without the Governor.