Kolkata, Aug 18 (IANS) Expelled Trinamool Congress legislator Ritabrata Banerjee will continue to be the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly for the time being, as a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday referred back the petition challenging Banerjee’s post before the single-judge bench of the same court, which in June this year, had upheld the decision of the West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose accepting Banerjee as the leader of the “rebel but majority” bloc of Trinamool Congress in the House as well as the official Leader of Opposition.

After the single-judge bench of Justice Krishan Rao in June had upheld the decision of the Assembly Speaker in the matter, veteran Trinamool Congress legislator and a prominent face in the Mamata Banerjee-led “original but minority” bloc in the party approached a division bench of the Calcutta High Court challenging the single-judge bench decision.

On Tuesday, the division bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Ajaya Kumar Gupta, refused to interfere in the decision of the Assembly Speaker in the matter and instead referred the matter back to the single-judge bench of Justice Rao.

The division bench of Justice Sarkar and Justice Gupta also said that the single-judge bench should decide on the matter within the next two months and till that time Ritabrata Banerjee will continue as the Leader of Opposition.

The division bench also clarified that since the single-judge bench will decide on the matter in the next two months; the Speaker’s decision of appointing Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition would be deemed as “temporary”.

The Trinamool Congress won 80 seats in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections earlier this year and became the principal Opposition party in the state.

Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee had selected Sovandeb Chatterjee as the Leader of the Opposition.

A letter was sent to the Assembly Speaker on May 9 by the Trinamool Congress. Thereafter, it was alleged that Speaker Bose did not take any action based on it. Later, there were allegations of forging the signatures of the MLAs in the same letter.

Ritabrata Banerjee and another Trinamool Congress legislator, Sandipan Saha, who made the allegations, were expelled on June 1 for anti-party activities.

On June 3, the “rebel but majority faction” in Trinamool Congress chose Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition and sent another letter to the Speaker.

The Speaker took action based on that letter and declared Ritabrata Banerjee the Leader of the Opposition.

Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, thereafter, moved to the Calcutta High Court challenging the Speaker’s decision in the matter.

–IANS

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