WB: Mukul Roy Nominated PAC Chief, BJP MLAs Quit Standing Committees

On Tuesday, all 8 BJP MLAs, who were nominated as chairmen of these panels, sent their resignations to the Speaker.

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

There are eight standing committees in the West Bengal state legislature and usually Opposition MLAs are made the chairmen of those committees. On Tuesday, all the eight BJP MLAs, who had been nominated as chairmen of these committees, sent their resignations to the Speaker. The letter stated that following the party's instructions, the MLAs were resigning from the standing committees.

The eight MLAs are Mihir Goswami (estimate), Monoj Tigga (labour), Krishna Kalyani (power and non-conventional energy), Nikhil Ranjan Dey (fisheries), Bishnu Prasad Sharma (PW and PHE), Dipak Barman (information technology and technical education), Ashoke Kirtaniya (subordinate legislature) and Anandomoy Barman (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 allows 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 had 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 up to them and I have nothing to say about it. The BJP leaders need to learn 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 backstabbing. They are horsetrading all over the country. They don't have the moral right to say so".

Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Roy