The swearing-in of Babul Supriyo the former Union Minister who left the BJP to contest in the Ballygunge Assembly by-elections on a TMC ticket continued to get stuck in ongoing tussle between the offices of Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee. Supriyo won the by-polls nearly a month ago defeating his nearest CPI(M) rival by about 20,000 votes.
In curious development after initially refusing to clear the related file sent by the Assembly Speaker seeking his clearance for the swearing-in the Governor had allowed Supriyo to be sworn in by Deputy Speaker Ashis Banerjee instead of Speaker Biman Banerjee. The Deputy Speaker however refused to oblige.
The Speaker who does not enjoy a good chemistry with the Governor said that “the norm is that the Assembly Speaker administers oath to MLAs elected in by-elections … Even in Lok Sabha, this norm is followed… But in this case, since the governor has decided to exercise his constitutional prerogative what more can I say.”
The Governor earlier iterated that he had powers under the Constitution to use the directions that he had issued. To this TMCspokesman, Kunal Ghosh said that the “Governor is acting like a BJP’s man and misusing his chair. The manner in which he is delaying the swearing-in function of a newly elected legislator is unprecedented…we hope he will see reasons and allow the function to be heldsmoothly.”