MUKUL ROY NOMINATED FOR PAC CHIEF POST, BJP HITS OUT

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has objected to the nomination of Mukul Roy to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of West Bengal Legislature, saying he is still an MLA of the party as he won the elections on the BJP ticket and so his nomination is not justifiable.

Regarding this, BJP has written a letter addressed to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Biman Banerjee.

Nevertheless, Speaker Biman Banerjee said, “A decision (on the next PAC chairman) will be taken in accordance with the rules.”

The BJP has proposed six names for the post— Ashok Lahiri, Suvendu Adhikari, Bankim Ghosh, Ambika Roy, Vivekananda Baury, Nikhil Ranjan Dey and Tarun Maiti. A total of 13 names have been submitted on behalf of the Trinamool, sources said.

Although Mukul Roy is still a BJP MLA, his name has not been proposed by the party. Ruden Lepcha, Kalimpong MLA and a leader of the Binay Tamang faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), proposed Roy’s name for the post. The proposal is also supported by Trinamool MLA of Agra.

It is learned that the BJP also objected verbally during the nomination scrutiny. An application has been filed to seek the cancellation of the nomination of Roy. The BJP parliamentary party also wanted to know from Biman Banerjee on what conditions the nomination of Krishnanagar North MLA has been accepted.

Mukul Roy, who had joined the BJP after leaving the TMC, returned to Mamata Banerjee’s party earlier this month. Along with him, his son Subhranshu Roy also slithered into the Mamata’s hood.

However, Roy has not yet resigned from the post of BJP MLA. And based on these developments, Mamata on Thursday said, “Mukul Roy is a member of the BJP.”

Mamata Banerjee has clarified the party’s position in the Trinamool-BJP clash over who will be the chairman of the PAC in the Assembly. The Trinamool will support Mukul Roy even if he is an MLA on the BJP ticket, Mamata said.

There are no specific rules; any MLA from the main opposition party can be made the chairman of the PAC. Mukul joined the Trinamool Congress, but he is the winning BJP MLA from Krishnanagar North constituency. The Trinamool claimed that if Mukul is made the PAC chairman, the practice of the assembly will not be broken.

“Mukul is a member of the BJP,” Mamata told media personnel on Thursday. “Binoy Tamang’s party has supported. We will also support it,” she added.

Moreover, Mamata said that the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly will do whatever he can according to the rules.

The BJP, however, has been pushing for an anti-defection law against Mukul and is seeking his dismissal as MLA. Opposition leader Shuvendu Adhikari has already sent a 64-page letter to Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on the issue. The speaker has summoned Shuvendu to hear the matter in July. The Nandigram MLA also shouted to the court to take action if the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly did not take timely action.