Kolkata, Sep 29 (IANS): West Bengal Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay will skip the swearing in ceremony of the newly elected Trinamool Congress legislator from Dhupguri assembly constituency Nirmal Chandra Roy at Raj Bhavan on Saturday.
The swearing in ceremony will be administered by the Governor C.V. Ananda Bose.
The state Parliamentary affairs minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay will also not be present at the programme at Raj Bhavan.
The only representation from the ruling Trinamool Congress at the Saturday’s programme will be the party’s deputy chief whip in assembly Tapas Roy.
The swearing in ceremony will be an unprecedented event in the recent past on two counts. On one hand, the swearing-in event will be organised at Raj Bhavan instead of the assembly premises and on the other hand the programme will be organised without the Speaker and the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister present there.
Although neither the Speaker nor the state Parliamentary Affairs Minister has clarified the reasons of their absence at the Saturday’s programme, Trinamool Congress insiders said that both are unhappy over how the Governor insisted on the oath ceremony at Raj Bhavan instead of the state assembly, which was a blatant breach of the tradition on this count.
To recall, when initially the proposal went from the office of the Governor to conduct the swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Bhavan premises, the proposal was rejected by the State Parliamentary Affairs Department who insisted the function should be held at the state assembly premises.
Even the Speaker wrote a letter to the Governor, requesting the latter to come to the Assembly and administer the oath there. However, the Governor kept on insisting on the event being organised at Raj Bhavan.
Understanding that the altercation is just delaying the process of swearing-in ceremony, the State Parliamentary Affairs Department and the office of the Assembly Speaker agreed on the Governor’s proposal to get the ceremony conducted at the Raj Bhavan with the Governor administering the oath.