TMC MLAs Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Rayat Hossain Sarkar sat in front of the statue of BR Ambedkar in Assembly premises, demanding that Governor CV Ananda Bose must facilitate the oath-taking ceremony in the Assembly instead of Raj Bhavan.
Bandyopadhyay said she is “scared” to go to the Governor’s house to take oath as a public representative in the backdrop of molestation allegations against the Governor by a female Raj Bhavan staff member.
“We want the Governor to come to the 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.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also criticised the Governor for “not allowing” the two MLAs to take oath of office.
“Despite winning the election, our MLAs are yet to take oath as public representatives. They have been elected by the people. Who has given him (the Governor) the right to not allow them to take the oath? He can authorise either the Speaker or deputy Speaker to conduct the ceremony. He can also go to the Assembly. Why would they (MLAs) go to Raj Bhavan? Women have complained to me that they are scared to go to Raj Bhavan in the light of what is happening there,” said Banerjee while addressing mediapersons in the state secretariat.
Yesterday, Governor Bose refused to hold the oath-taking ceremony in the state Assembly as requested by TMC MLAs, and instead left for New Delhi. The Raj Bhavan had earlier invited the two to take the oath at the Governor’s House on Wednesday. The MLAs had refused to go and requested the Governor to come to Assembly for the same or authorise Speaker Biman Banerjee to conduct the same.
In May, a Raj Bhavan staffer filed a written complaint with the Kolkata Police alleging molestation by the West Bengal Governor in the Raj Bhavan. The Governor has described the allegations as “absurd drama”, and said that no one would be able to deter him from his “determined efforts to expose corruption and curb violence.”