Eight BJP MLAs in West Bengal resigned from all the eight standing committees of the assembly in protest against Speaker Biman Banerjee’s decision to nominate Mukul Roy as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. The BJP legislative party members later met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

There are altogether 8 standing committees in the West Bengal state legislature and usually, the opposition MLAs are made the chairmen of those committees. On Tuesday all the 8 BJP MLAs who were nominated chairmen of these committees sent their resignations to the Speaker. The letter stated that following the party’s instruction the MLAs were resigning from the standing committees.

The 8 MLAs are Mihir Goswami (Chairman Estimate), Monoj Tigga (Chairman Labour), Krishna Kalyani (Chairman Power and non-conventional energy), Nikhil Ranjan Dey (Chairman fisheries), Bishnu Prasad Sharma (Chairman PW and PHE), Dipak Barman (Chairman Information technology and Technical Education), Ashoke Kirtaniya (Chairman Subordinate Legislature) and Anandomoy Barman (Chairman Papers laid on the table).

Speaking to the media after submitting his resignation Tigga said, “It is true that there is no rule but it has been the custom that the Speaker will allow the name proposed by the opposition and make him the chairman of the PAC.

“But nothing happens in this state in a proper way. Mukul Roy, who has been disowned by our party has been made the chairman of the PAC. We protested but it was not taken care of. It is useless to be chairmen of the standing committees and so we decided to resign. They have stabbed us in the back.”

The BJP had proposed the name of Ashoke Lahiri as the chairman of the PAC and Mukul Roy’s name was proposed by an independent candidate. Speaker Biman Banerjee finally nominated Roy as the chairman of the PAC. The issue has snowballed into a major controversy. Though the ruling Trinamool Congress said that the decision is under the jurisdiction of the Speaker and it has nothing to do with it, the BJP alleged that the decision was influenced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

When asked about it, Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Roy said, “Whether they will resign or not is all up to them and I have nothing to say about it but the BJP leaders should learn the assembly proceedings first. The decision is entirely under the jurisdiction of the Speaker. So if he decides to make Roy the chairman we have nothing to do with it. Moreover, BJP shouldn’t speak of stabbing from behind. They are doing this kind of horse-trading all over the country. They don’t have the moral right to say so”.

(With inputs from IANS)