Two newly-elected Trinamool Congress MLAs sat on a dharna for the second consecutive day on Friday in front of BR Ambedkar’s statue in West Bengal Assembly, as a stalemate over their demand to be administered oath in the House against Governor CV Ananda Bose’s invite to do so in the Raj Bhavan continued.
Baranagar MLA Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Bhagabangola MLA Rayat Hossain Sarkar, who won in by-polls, refused to take oath in the Raj Bhavan as asked by Governor Bose and sat on a dharna in the assembly complex on Thursday.
They sat on dharna again on Friday at noon in front of the statue of Ambedkar in the West Bengal Vidhan Sabha complex, demanding that Bose facilitate the oath-taking ceremony in the assembly, enabling them to perform their duties as legislators.
The governor had invited the two MLAs to take the oath at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.
They declined the invitation, claiming that convention dictates that in the case of by-poll winners, the governor assigns the speaker or the deputy speaker to administer the oath.
The controversy took a new turn on Thursday with chief minister Mamata Banerjee claiming that women were scared to go to Raj Bhavan.
“I have received complaints that because of various scandals and misconduct going on at Raj Bhavan, women are afraid to go there,” Mamata said, referring to the recent complaint lodged against the governor by a woman employee of Raj Bhavan.
“Even after winning (by-elections), my legislators have been waiting for a month! The governor is not allowing them to take the oath. People have elected them. What right does he have to prevent them from taking the oath? He should give this right (to administer the oath) to the Speaker or the deputy Speaker. If not, then, he should go to the Assembly himself. Why should everyone go to Raj Bhavan?” asked Mamata.
As the two MLAs continued to wait for the oath-taking, Biman Banerjee wrote to President Droupadi Murmu detailing the entire chain of events and asked her to intervene to end the stalemate.
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