West Bengal Governor, Chief Minister face-off over swearing-in of newly elected MLAs

Their oath ceremony is caught in middle of technical glitches of communication between State Secretariat of Nabanna and Raj Bhavan

Kolkata: A fresh tussle has evolved between the Governor’s House and the State Secretariat in West Bengal over the oath ceremony of the two elected Trinamool Congress legislators in the recently concluded bypolls to two Assembly constituencies — Bhagawangola in Murshidabad district and Baranagar in North 24 Parganas district.

Sources said that although 11 days have passed since Trinamool Congress’ Reyat Houssen Sarkar and Sayantika Banerjee got elected, their oath ceremony is caught in the middle of technical glitches of communication between the State Secretariat of Nabanna and the Raj Bhavan.

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As per the official protocol, the State Parliamentary Affairs Department is supposed to communicate with the Raj Bhavan regarding the oath ceremony of the newly elected legislators.

An official and written communique is supposed to be sent from the said department to the office of the Governor. However, sources said in the case of Sarkar and Banerjee, although an official and written communique has reached the office of the Governor, it is not from the Minister in charge of the State Parliamentary Affairs Department but from the office of the secretary to the West Bengal Assembly.

No return communique, sources added, had been given from the office of the Governor on this count, posing a grave uncertainty over the entire issue.

Incidentally, on Friday only Governor CV Ananda Bose issued a statement demanding the immediate replacement of Kolkata Police personnel posted on duty at the Raj Bhavan here.

The Governor issued the statement after the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly complained that the city police personnel posted outside Raj Bhavan stopped him and some of the victims accompanying him to enter the premises on Thursday evening.

In his statement, the Governor also claimed that he would not meet the state minister in charge of the police department unless the victims of post-poll violence were allowed to meet him. Incidentally, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the Home portfolio, and is in charge of the state police department.