Kolkata, July 19 As anticipated, a fresh confusion has surfaced in West Bengal over the oath ceremony of four newly-elected Trinamool Congress MLAs with the matter getting trapped in the exchange of letters between the Raj Bhavan, state Parliamentary Affairs Department, and the Assembly authorities.
As per the protocol, the Parliamentary Affairs Department sent a communique to the office of Governor C.V. Ananda Bose a couple of days back, seeking the latter’s directions on the oath ceremony of four Trinamool MLAs who won the bypolls recently -- Supti Pandey, Krishna Kalyani, Madhuparna Thakur, and Mukut Mani Adhikari.
However, sources said a reply has come from the Governor's office questioning the recent oath ceremony of two Trinamool MLAs -- Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Houssen Sarkar -- during a special session of the Assembly.
The sources said the Raj Bhavan has pointed out that although the Governor had nominated Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee to administer oaths to Banerjee and Sarkar, it was done by Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay.
The Governor's office has reportedly sought clarification on the matter from the state government.
Sources said the Speaker's office on Friday replied to the communique from the Raj Bhavan, clarifying that since the oath ceremony was conducted during a special session of the Assembly, the Deputy Speaker couldn't preside over it since the Speaker was already present in the House.
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