The impasse between the state government and Raj Bhavan over the swearing-in of Nirmal Chandra Roy, the Trinamul candidate who won the Dhupguri Assembly bypoll earlier this month, seems to have ended.
He will take the oath at Raj Bhavan in Calcutta on Saturday.
On Thursday, Roy received a letter from Raj Bhavan and said he had been invited to the swearing-in.
“I will take a flight to Calcutta from Bagdogra tomorrow (Friday). Once I reach Calcutta, I will meet Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay (state parliamentary affairs minister) and discuss with him the swearing-in function,” said Roy from his residence on Thursday.
Minister Chattopadhyay, when contacted on Thursday, confirmed that the event would be held in Raj Bhavan. “On September 30, the MLA would be sworn in by the governor in Raj Bhavan. The function has been planned at 4.30pm,” he said.
Earlier too, senior ministers alleged that governor C.V. Ananda Bose had directly communicated with the MLA while bypassing the Trinamul government, and invited him to take oath at Raj Bhavan.
However, then Roy, instructed by the party, didn’t turn up. Then, the governor wrote a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, stating that he wanted the MLA’s swearing-in to be held at Raj Bhavan. The state reacted and Speaker Biman Banerjee replied to Bose, saying the event should be held in the Assembly, which is no less an esteemed place than Raj Bhavan.
A senior Trinamul functionary, while explaining the tussle over the venue of the swearing-in, said that traditionally, in case a single MLA is sworn in, the governor delegates the power to the Speaker.
“In this case, however, the governor became rigid,” said a Trinamul leader. “The MLA was elected in a bypoll almost three weeks back but couldn’t start working in his official capacity. For the interest of Dhupguri residents, the party thought he should take the oath at the earliest. Hence, we agreed to his swearing-in at Raj Bhavan. Else, there was every chance that the governor might have further delayed it,” said a party leader.
Roy won the byelection held earlier this month by a margin of 4,309 votes and defeated BJP candidate Tapasi Roy. The seat was earlier held by the BJP MLA Bishnupada Roy who died in July.