Reacting to the “untold story of hotel Taj Palace” and “3 pm” remarks made by Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh, West Bengal Governor Ananda Bose stated on Friday that he would respond after the deadline given by Ghosh. The Governor remarked, “I will answer it after 4:00 pm that day.”
The conflict between the Governor and the ruling Trinamool Congress over the oath ceremony of two newly elected Trinamool MLAs intensified following Ghosh’s comments. Kunal Ghosh had warned, “I would like to respectfully inform Governor CV Ananda Bose that if both our Trinamool Congress MLAs are not sworn in by 3 pm on Monday, then from Tuesday the untold story of the Taj Palace in Delhi will come up.”
Meanwhile, West Bengal Legislative Assembly Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay expressed hope that Governor CV Ananda Bose would understand the situation and attend the assembly soon for the oath ceremony of the two new MLAs. Bandyopadhyay said, “I wrote a letter to the President of India and yesterday night I had a conversation with Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar. Last time when Mamata Banerjee won in a by-election from the Bhawanipur assembly, the then Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar came to the assembly and an oath ceremony took place. I think this time also the same rule should be followed by the present Governor of West Bengal.”
On Thursday, the two newly elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs, Reyat Hossain Sarkar and Sayantika Banerjee, began a sit-in protest in front of the BR Ambedkar statue at the West Bengal Legislative Assembly premises. This protest followed Governor CV Anand Bose’s refusal to administer the oath or delegate the responsibility to the Speaker.
Reyat Hossain Sarkar and Sayantika Banerjee won the assembly by-elections from the Baranagar and Bhagwangola constituencies, respectively, with results declared on June 5. Sarkar secured 107,096 votes in Bhagwangola, and Banerjee received 69,251 votes in Baranagar. Both MLAs were unable to take their oaths due to a dispute over the venue of the swearing-in ceremony.
