Kolkata
At a time when the ministers of the Mamata Banerjee government will take oath on Monday at Raj Bhavan, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh announced the saffron camp will boycott the Assembly till post-poll violence is ended.
According to sources, instead of May 8, the TMC ministers will take oath May 9 at 11am and hold the first cabinet meeting at 3pm at Nabanna. “Abiding by the Covid-19 protocols, the ministers will take oath and will hold the first cabinet meeting. This time around, the women will get more ministries, along with SC, ST and OBC MLAs,” the sources confirm.
Meanwhile, after taking oath in the West Bengal Assembly, several BJP MLAs held a closed-door meeting with BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh. After the meeting, Ghosh said until the post-poll violence is ended, the BJP MLAs will not attend the Assembly session as a mark of protest.
Notably, there is a special Assembly session on Saturday to elect the Speaker, which will also be skipped by BJP.
Meanwhile, several BJP MLAs including senior leader Mukul Roy were seen taking oath. Before the ceremony, Mukul was seen talking to TMC President Subrata Bakshi following which new speculation started that Mukul might return to the TMC. However, talking to the media, the Krishnanagar MLA refused his comments.
Post-poll violence: MHA team meets Guv for report
A team sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs held over an hour-long meeting with West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
A day after the meeting with officials at Nabanna and visit to places where sporadic violence had been rampant since May 2, the MHA team on Friday visited places in South 24 parganas, met people and took videos and photos to submit a detailed report to Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Locals were seen crying while narrating the violence post the announcement of the election results by the alleged TMC goons. Incidentally, The Calcutta HC responding to a PIL had asked the TMC-led government to submit a report on May 9 about govt steps to curb the violence. The division bench said an SIT must probe the matter. Meanwhile, ABVP leaders — Arghya Saha of Sonarpur and Akash Mandal of Deganga — were arrestedfor posting fake videos and photos of violence on social media. Incidentally, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly and others were arrested for protesting against violence on women.
EC’s spanner in Mamata’s election within time limit
A fear has gripped the TMC that the EC may throw the spanner in the election of its leader Mamata Banerjee to the West Bengal Assembly through a by-election within the time limit set in the Constitution. The TMC’s fear stems from an EC press note on Wednesday putting off the by-election of 3 LS seats—Khandwa (MP), Mandi (Himachal) and Dadra & Nagar Haveli — and 11 Assembly seats in 8 states, including 2 in WB, “till the pandemic situation significantly improves and conditions become conducive to hold these by-elections. Pointing out the EC has been partisan indirectly helping the BJP throughout the Assembly poll in West Bengal, TMC leaders say it may not allow any byelection in the state to ensure Mamata exhausts the time limit without getting elected. Mamata, who was defeated in Nandigram, could have easily win the Khardah byelection that has been caused due to death of TMC winner Kajal Sinha from Covid before the results were announced, but that possibility vanishes if the byelection to the seat is not held at ll until she exhausts the 6-month time limit. —Our Bureau
