Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, on Wednesday skipped the oath-taking ceremony of the state’s new Governor C.V. Ananda Bose.
Adhikari cited deliberate insult to him by the state government by making his sitting arrangements at the function just beside two such MLAs who though got elected as BJP legislators in the 2021 Assembly polls shifted to Trinamool Congress without resigning from their legislative chairs.
The two legislators in question are Biswajit Das from Bagdah and Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj. They two were elected as BJP legislators in 2021. But months after the results were out, they the joined Trinamool Congress.
As per official records of the West Bengal Assembly, Das and Kalyani continue as BJP legislators.
Adhikari pointed out that the matter relating to disqualification of Das and Kalyani as MLAs is pending at the office of the Assembly Speaker.
According to him, as the leader of Opposition, which is equivalent to a state cabinet minister’s rank, such a sitting arrangement was a grave insult for him and hence he decided to skip the function.
He also added that at a later stage he will appraise the new Governor about the reason behind his absence and will also provide a picture of the sitting arrangement.
On Tuesday, Adhikari had also complained about the delay in sending him the invitation for the oath-taking ceremony.
Reacting to the development, Trinamool Congress general secretary Kunal Ghosh said Adhikari was “resorting to baseless excuses to justify his ill-courteous approach”.
“Actually, the Leader of Opposition has never bothered for political courtesy,” he said.
The ceremony took place at 10.45 a.m. in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay and senior members of the West Bengal cabinet among others.
The oath was administered by the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava.