Kolkata, June 1 (IANS) After suffering a landslide defeat in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, the previous ruling party in the state, the Trinamool Congress, is now facing a serious crisis over the alleged mismatch of legislators’ signatures in a resolution nominating names for crucial posts in the West Bengal Assembly reserved for the principal Opposition party.
Earlier this month, the Trinamool Congress submitted a resolution adopted at a meeting of the party legislators on May 6, nominating names for the posts of the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, two Deputy Leaders of the Opposition, and the party’s Chief Whip in the legislative wing.
Before submitting the resolution, Abhishek Banerjee, as the party’s General Secretary, had sent a letter to the Assembly Secretariat nominating Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition, Nayna Bandyopadhyay and Asima Patra as Deputy Leaders of the Opposition, and Firhad Hakim, who is also the Mayor of Kolkata, as the Chief Whip.
However, Speaker Rathindra Bose insisted on the submission of a resolution carrying the signatures of Trinamool Congress MLAs. When mismatches in some signatures were noticed, the matter was referred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police.
The issue assumed serious proportions on May 30 when a CID team served a notice on Abhishek Banerjee, who is also a Lok Sabha member and the nephew of the previous West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, seeking his appearance for questioning in connection with the legislators’ signature mismatch case.
Although Banerjee was scheduled to appear at the CID headquarters by 12 noon on Monday, he sought 15 days’ time, citing his physical condition after allegedly being assaulted at Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas district on May 30.
However, the developments took a dramatic turn on Monday afternoon when Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari informed media persons that the CID had been asked to investigate the matter after two elected Trinamool Congress legislators, namely Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, informed the office of the Speaker that the signatures of some party legislators on the resolution had been forged.
Within minutes of the Chief Minister’s announcement, the Trinamool Congress announced the expulsion of Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha from the party on charges of anti-party activities.
Later, Mamata Banerjee, in a live social media message, claimed that the two expelled legislators had been sabotaging the Trinamool Congress from within after being elected as party legislators.
On Monday evening, a team of CID sleuths reached Abhishek Banerjee’s residence on Kalighat Road in south Kolkata. There was a possibility that the CID team might question him later in the evening in connection with the legislators’ signature mismatch case.
Political observers feel that never before has the Trinamool Congress faced such an all-round crisis since it was founded by Mamata Banerjee on January 1, 1998, after breaking away from the Congress.
“First came the landslide defeat on May 4. It was followed by internal rebellion from party leaders and elected representatives such as MPs and legislators. Now there is the legislators’ signature mismatch controversy. It remains to be seen whether Mamata Banerjee is able to bring her party out of the crisis, as she has done several times in the past, or whether the Trinamool Congress will slide into a deeper crisis, if not total disintegration,” said a city-based political observer.
–IANS
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