Fed up with the Governor’s inaction and non-cooperation, the West Bengal Speaker today hit back by convening a special session of the State Assembly.
Speaker Biman Banerjee, alluding to the impasse created by the running feud between the Mamata Banerjee Government and Governor CV Ananda Bose, said: “If someone thinks that we are helpless, then he or she is wrong. The Assembly is not helpless. You can’t just force everything down our throats. There are rules, regulations, and constitutional norms. All of us have to abide by them.”
For the past one month, the Government and the Governor have been engaged in a tense standoff regarding the swearing-in of two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs.
Today, Speaker Biman Banerjee, after summoning a special session of the West Bengal Assembly, asserted that the functioning of the House “was not solely dependent on the Governor”.
“The Special Session will begin at 2 pm tomorrow,” the Speaker said, adding 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 Assembly is not helpless, and everything is not in the hands of the Governor,” the Speaker said even as the two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs staged a sit-in protest at the West Bengal 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.
The duo – Baranagar MLA Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Bhagabangola legislator Rayat Hossain Sarkar – had spurned an invitation from Governor Ananda Bose to take the oath at Raj Bhavan and have been insisting that they would not take their oath in Raj Bhavan and administered by the Governor. Instead, they have been demanding that the Governor nominate either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker to administer the oath in the State Assembly premises.
Due to the pending swearing-in process, the two MLAs have yet to assume their roles as elected representatives. The Speaker, who previously sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu on this matter, accused the Governor of turning it into an ego battle.
“The Governor is deliberately creating an impasse. He has turned it into an ego battle. This matter should be resolved so that the MLAs can take the oath and serve the people,” he said.
Bandyopadhyay and Sarkar have resumed their sit-in protest near the statue of B R Ambedkar on the
Assembly premises, holding placards that read “We are waiting for the Governor.” The Mamata Banerjee Government has been engaged in a running battle with the Governor over a variety of issues. The latest is the stand of the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee which has openly supported a young woman who held a temporary job in Raj Bhavan and had accused the Governor of making improper advances.
The Governor has brushed away the allegations and said that it was a motivated move.
On Wednesday, the woman also approached the Supreme Court with her complaint against the Governor, contending that the Constitutional immunity enjoyed by the constitutional head did not extend to “illegal and immoral actions”.
