A day after failing to take oath, TMC MLAs launch sit-in on Assembly premises

Kolkata, Jun 27 (PTI) A day after two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs failed to take oath following a row over the venue of the swearing-in ceremony, they launched a dharna on the West Bengal Assembly compound on Thursday.

The MLAs, Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Rayat Hossain Sarkar, sat before the statue of B R Ambedkar, demanding that Governor CV Ananda Bose enable them to perform the duty of elected public representatives by facilitating the oath-taking ceremony inside the assembly.

Raj Bhavan had earlier invited the two, who were elected to the assembly in recent by-polls, to take the oath at the Governor’s House on Wednesday.

However, the TMC claimed that the convention dictates that in the case of by-poll winners, the governor assigns the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the assembly to administer the oath.

The governor refused to hold the programme in the assembly as requested by the two and had gone to New Delhi on June 26 evening.

“We had waited till 4 PM on Wednesday for the governor to conduct the oath-taking ceremony, but he didn’t come. Today we are sitting before the statue of Ambedkar with the demand that our constitutional rights to work for the people be facilitated without any delay,” Bandopadhyay told reporters.

Speaker Biman Banerjee on Wednesday accused Bose of turning the swearing-in ritual into an “ego battle” and intentionally complicating the issue.

Bose told PTI from New Delhi on Wednesday night that the Constitution empowers him to decide who should be entrusted with the task of administering oath to MLAs.

“I had no objection to fixing the assembly as the venue, but because of an objectionable letter from the Speaker, undermining the dignity of the office of Governor, that option was not found feasible,” Bose said.