Kolkata, June 3 (IANS) Rathindra Bose, the new Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly, on Wednesday accepted the resolution of the new block in Trinamool Congress’s legislative party as both the official Trinamool Congress block and the principal opposition party in the House.

Earlier in the day, 58 out of the 80 elected legislators of Trinamool Congress, led by expelled party legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, submitted a resolution carrying the signatures of the 58 legislators, seeking recognition both as the official block of the party in the Assembly as well as the official principal opposition party in the state.

Later on Wednesday afternoon, the Speaker accepted the resolution since more than two-thirds of Trinamool Congress’s tally of 80 legislators had endorsed the new block.

The Speaker also accepted another plea in the resolution nominating Ritabrata as the Leader of the Opposition, Siuli Saha, Javed Ahmed Khan and Sandipan Saha as the three Deputy Leaders of the Opposition, and Akhruzzaman as the Chief Whip of the official legislative party of the Trinamool Congress’s new block in the Assembly.

The room within the Assembly premises allotted for the opposition MLAs and the room allotted for the Leader of the Opposition were also opened, and the keys to the rooms were handed over to them.

After the decision from the office of the Speaker, Ritabrata Banerjee spoke to media persons and said that besides the 58 party legislators who signed the resolution, two other party legislators who are currently out of the state had also confirmed their support for and association with the new and official block.

“We are 58 in total now. Soon our number will increase to 60,” he said.

He also appealed through the media to former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to be the adviser to the new block. However, at the same time, he said that the official block would have no connection with Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and the party’s general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee.

In fact, in the resolution submitted earlier in the day, Mamata Banerjee was acknowledged as the supreme leader of the party.

Last month, Abhishek Banerjee had sent a letter to the office of the Speaker naming Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the LoP, Nayna Bandopadhyay and Asima Patra as the two Deputy Leaders of the Opposition, and Firhad Hakim as the Chief Whip of Trinamool Congress’ legislative party in the Assembly.

However, the Speaker insisted that the resolution carrying the signatures of the Trinamool Congress legislators and endorsing the four names for the Assembly slots should be submitted along with the letter from Abhishek Banerjee.

Thereafter, a resolution carrying the signatures of the Trinamool Congress legislators was submitted to the office of the Speaker. However, things started taking a dramatic turn after that when Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha pointed out mismatches in the signatures of some party legislators. Both were expelled from Trinamool Congress earlier this week.

Soon after that, the Assembly secretariat handed over the investigation to the CID, which summoned Abhishek Banerjee for interrogation twice.

Meanwhile, rebellion started brewing within Trinamool Congress, which took final shape on Wednesday with the formation of a new block claiming to be the real representative of the Trinamool Congress.

–IANS

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