Bengal parliamentary affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay sent a second letter to governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Monday, requesting him to take necessary steps so that the newly elected Dhupguri MLA could be sworn in at the earliest.

“I have sent a letter to the governor according to the instructions of the chief minister. In the letter, I have mentioned clearly that when a single MLA has to be sworn in, the governor delegates the power to the Speaker of the Assembly. In this case, he should do the same so that the Speaker can arrange the swearing-in at the earliest,” said the minister and senior Trinamul leader.

Over the past couple of days, the swearing-in issue has again brought to the surface the rift between the state government and the governor. Ties between Raj Bhavan and Nabanna have been frosty in recent months because of various reasons.

Chattopadhyay, a senior minister in the state, had alleged on Saturday that the governor had bypassed the Assembly and the state government to directly ask first-time MLA Nirmal Chandra Roy, who had won the Dhupguri bypoll on a Trinamul ticket earlier this month, to reach Raj Bhavan and take his oath.

Roy, however, did not leave Dhupguri at the summons.

In the letter, Chattopadhyay said that as Roy was yet to take his oath, he wasn’t able to start working in the official capacity of an MLA for his Assembly constituency.

“This is affecting Dhupguri residents who voted for him,” Chattopadhyay said.

In Dhupguri, the bypoll was held on September 5 as the seat fell vacant owing to the death of the BJP MLA, Bishnupada Roy, in July. The result was announced on September 8. Trinamul’s Roy had defeated the BJP’s Tapasi Roy by a margin of 4,309 votes.

However, over a fortnight has passed since then but Roy is yet to be sworn in to the Assembly.

Roy, who is still in Dhupguri, attended the celebrations on the occasion of “Karam Puja”, a festival of the tribals, on Monday.

Roy, however, refused to comment on the issue.

Leaders of the BJP scoffed at the newly elected MLA.

“The governor had called him (Roy) to take the oath but he didn’t turn up. If he is so keen to work for the people, he should have gone to Raj Bhavan. Instead, he is trying to play politics like his party supremo (Mamata Banerjee),” said the Midnapore MP and BJP veteran leader Dilip Ghosh.

The governor, who was set to leave for the US on Tuesday, has cancelled his trip because of the current dengue situation in Bengal.