Kolkata, May 8 (IANS) Rajya Sabha member, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, on Friday said that it does not matter whether Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee resigns or not, as the new Chief Minister will take oath on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters, Shringla said, “It holds no significance because the government’s term has come to an end. It has automatically expired, and according to the Constitution, she will no longer remain the Chief Minister.”

He further said, “The swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Minister and the oath-taking process will take place tomorrow. A new government will begin functioning from then onwards. Whether you resign or not, does not matter now. However, after losing by such a huge margin in the state, we hope that you resign with dignity and leave the post gracefully.”

Questioning the political precedent, Shringla said, “Has anyone in the history of the country ever said that they would not leave office after losing power? Be it Congress, BJP, or any other party, whoever lost resigned from the post of Chief Minister or Prime Minister. In Kerala, too, leaders resigned immediately after defeat. Then why continue to cling to power? There is no such political culture in the country.”

He further said that development-oriented and people-centric policies will begin to take shape from tomorrow itself.

Shringla said, “Development-oriented and people-centric policies will begin to take shape from tomorrow itself, which is a matter of great happiness. I am also from North Bengal, and I feel honoured to be present at this historic moment.”

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee is officially now a “former Chief Minister” of West Bengal, following Governor R.N. Ravi’s announcement of the dissolution of the state Legislative Assembly, which also means the automatic end of the previous state Cabinet led by her.

The Governor announced this on Thursday evening. However, in her official social media handles (both X and Facebook), she continues to retain the ‘Chief Minister of West Bengal’ title.

A click on the ‘About’ section of both her X and Facebook handles shows her identity as — ‘Founder Chairperson All India Trinamool Congress. Honourable Chief Minister, West Bengal’.

The claims about her identity on social media handles are in line with what she said at a press conference on May 5, that is, the day after the results of the West Bengal Assembly Election, 2026, which marked a landslide victory of the BJP and also the end of the 15-year Trinamool Congress regime in the state.

In that press conference, Mamata Banerjee clearly said she would not follow the tradition of submitting her resignation to the Governor since she felt that the official results were not a reflection of the actual public mandate, thus making it clear she was not accepting either the Trinamool Congress’ defeat in the entire West Bengal or her personal defeat at the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency.

At Bhabanipur, she was defeated by Suvendu Adhikari, the then outgoing and now former Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, by over 15,000 votes.

–IANS

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