Take up swearing-in issue of Dhupguri MLA with Governor: CM to Sovandeb

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday asked state Parliamentary Affairs minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay to take up the matter of swearing-in of Nirmal Chandra Roy, who won the Dhupguri by-election in Jalpaiguri district. Banerjee reached Kolkata on Saturday evening after her 11-day tour of Spain and Dubai.

It is learnt that Banerjee has asked Chattopadhyay to write a letter to convince the Governor that the delay in taking oath of Roy is affecting services to the common people in the Assembly Constituency and finalise a date for administering oath. The results of the by-election was declared on September 8 and nearly three weeks have gone by without Roy being sworn-in. “I will be soon writing to the Governor so that the letter reaches him before he leaves for his foreign tour. I will ask him to take measures so that the oath taking can be done at the earliest. He can ask the Speaker of the state Legislative Assembly to do the formalities,” Chattopadhyay said.

The difference between the Governor and the state government surfaced over the oath taking of Roy.

Sources in the Raj Bhavan said on Saturday that all preparations were made at the Governor’s House so that the Governor could administer oath to Roy. Raj Bhavan claimed that Roy was contacted directly from Governor’s House and asked to come for oath on Saturday.

However, Roy denied having received any communication from Raj Bhavan on the issue and did not turn up.

Chattopadhyay said that the Governor had fixed date keeping the Assembly in the dark which was unprecedented.