Eight BJP MLAs on Tuesday resigned as heads of various panels of the West Bengal Assembly in protest against Mukul Roy’s appointment as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Speaker Biman Banerjee said he will look into the resignations. Mr. Roy, who won the Assembly polls on the BJP ticket and joined the Trinamool Congress, was appointed to the post on July 9.
Mihir Goswami, Manoj Tigga, Krishna Kalyani and Anandmoy Barman were some of the MLAs who resigned. During the day, a number of BJP MLAs led by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and submitted a memorandum alleging irregularities in the appointment of the PAC chairman.
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“We are surprised that there are videos in the public domain that Mukul Roy has joined the TMC. Even his twitter account shows that he is a member of the party. The resolution of the Speaker says he is a BJP MLA. We wanted the intervention of the Governor on the issue,” Mr. Adhikari said. He said the BJP had pitched economist and party MLA Ashok Lahiri as PAC chairperson.
The BJP leader said they would approach the President and also leaders of Assemblies to highlight how rules are being violated in the House.
TMC deputy chief whip Tapas Roy said the appointments for any Assembly panel should be left to the discretion of the Speaker who is the final authority.
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