The controversy over the venue for the swearing-in ceremony of the two MLAs —Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Rayat Hossain Sarkar — escalated when the legislators refused to take oath at Raj Bhavan as directed by Governor CV Ananda Bose and instead staged a dharna at the Assembly complex on Wednesday. The two MLAs continued their dharna on Thursday.
“I have written to the Honourable President and sought her intervention into the matter so that she can speak to the Governor and end this impasse. What is happening regarding the swearing-in of the MLAs is unacceptable. We hope to get justice,” the Speaker told PTI.
The letter to the President came hours after CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said Bose has no right to prevent the process. Mamata alleged she has received complaints from women who claimed they felt unsafe going to the Raj Bhavan after reports of certain activities were reported from there.
“Nearly a month has passed but my MLAs — Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Rayat Hossain Sarkar — are unable to take the oath. The Governor is obstructing them from doing so. It is the people who have elected them, not the Governor. He cannot deny them the right to take the oath,” Banerjee told mediapersons at the state secretariat.
“Why must everyone go to Raj Bhavan? The Governor can authorise the Speaker or Deputy Speaker, or attend the Assembly himself. Women have informed me they are afraid to visit Raj Bhavan due to recent incidents reported there,” she added.
Meanwhile, Baranagar MLA Bandyopadhyay, who along with Bhagabangola MLA Sarkar sat on the dharna before the BR Ambedkar statue in the Vidhan Sabha complex, said she was “scared” to go to Raj Bhavan to take oath as a public representative in the backdrop of molestation allegations against the Governor by a woman Raj Bhavan staff member.
“We want the Governor to come to Assembly and conduct the oath-taking ceremony or he can designate the Assembly Speaker to do the same. We respect the chair of the Governor. We do not know whether what happened in Raj Bhavan is true or false, but it is a fact that we are scared to go there,” said Bandyopadhyay.
The two MLAs demanded that Bose enable them to perform their duties as legislators by facilitating the oath-taking ceremony in the Assembly.
Earlier, the Governor had invited the two MLAs, who were elected in the recent bypolls, to take the oath in the Raj Bhavan Wednesday. However, they declined the invitation, claiming that convention dictates that in the case of bypoll winners, the Governor assigns the Speaker or the deputy Speaker to administer the oath. — With PTI Inputs