Tripura Assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath on Monday rejected the plea of State Congress Chief Birajit Sinha to disqualify six MLAs who crossed over to Trinamool Congress. The decision ended the uncertainty over fate of legislators, including former leader of opposition Sudip Roy Barman, who had organised the ‘revolt’ in Congress against allying with CPI(M) in the West Bengal assembly elections.
Congress had 10 MLAs in the Assembly. Six of them had joined TMC, while another resigned citing ‘personal problems’. The Congress is now left with three MLAs in a 60-member house.
Mr. Debnath said he took the final decision after examining documents submitted by both Congress and TMC, and taking views of legal experts. The announcement preceded a meeting with Sudip Roy Burman who now demanded his party be treated as the main opposition party.
Mr. Debnath did not specify if he would concede the demand of choosing TMC as main opposition party as the latter did not have requisite one-sixth MLAs. However, henceforth TMC would be recognised as a separate opposition block in the Assembly.
Earlier this month, TMC MLAs made a personal appearance in office of the Speaker to face questions and verify their signatures under provisions of the anti-defection law. Thereafter, the Speaker fixed August 29 for final disposal of the politically charged issue.
Besides Sudip Roy Barman, Congress MLAs Ashish Saha, Pranjit Singha Roy, Biswabandhu Sen, Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl and Dilip Sarkar joined the TMC. Their joining paved exodus of rank and file from Congress to TMC and it has been continuing on a daily basis.
TMC Chairman Ratan Chakraborty and Sudip Roy Barman hailed the decision of the Speaker, but reiterated demand for recognition of main opposition party. They announced they would continue to press the demand and would seek intervention of state’s Governor Tathagata Roy.
TMC was revived in Tripura at the cost of Congress and after the rally addressed by party Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on August 9. Her deputy Mukul Roy will arrive here on September 3 to oversee party affairs.
