Kolkata, Nov 13 (IANS) No special treatment will be extended to Partha Chatterjee, which he received earlier as West Bengal Education Minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General, in case he attends the forthcoming winter session of the Assembly scheduled later this month.

The new seat that will be allotted to him on the floor of the House will neither be in the treasury bench nor in the opposition bench. Insiders from the state Assembly said that since Trinamool Congress had already suspended him from the party after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the school-job case in July 2022, he will now be treated as an Independent legislator.

Hence, he will be allotted a seat at a place between the treasury bench and the opposition bench.

At the same time, he will not be allowed a separate room that was allotted to him within the Assembly premises as the state education minister.

“He is no longer a minister. So he will not be allotted a separate room within the Assembly premises. He will attend the session like any MLA and will get all the facilities like them. His new seat will be decided before the winter session,” confirmed the Speaker of the House, Biman Bandopadhyay.

He also assured that in case Chatterjee would like to participate in a debate on the floor of the House during the session, he will be allotted time to present his views as per the rules.

“Chatterjee was removed from the state cabinet. But he was not expelled from the Assembly. So he had the right to attend any session of the Assembly. He is a veteran legislator. If he wants to speak, time will be allotted to him to present his views as per the Assembly rules,” the speaker said.

Chatterjee had already claimed that he would participate in the winter session of the Assembly, and if possible, would also participate in debates in the House.

–IANS

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