Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Friday dismissed Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari’s petition for Mukul Roy’s disqualification as a member of the House on the ground that he had defected to the Trinamul Congress after winning the election on a BJP ticket.

Speaking at a recorded hearing in his chambers on Friday, Banerjee said the evidence presented by Adhikari’s lawyer in support of the claim against Roy was insufficient and averred that he would continue in his capacity of a BJP MLA of Krishnagar North.

Sources in the BJP later said Roy’s reputation as a turncoat was “solidified” by the Speaker’s decision, referring to the former BJP national vice-president’s purported history as a “fair-weather friend” to those in power.

“Adhikari’s legal team made reference to the anti-defection law that was to be invoked against Roy, but the Speaker determined that according to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, the MLA could not be held guilty,” said a source.

Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee. File photo

In a video byte relaying the decision, Banerjee claimed: “...the petitioner has failed to adduce weighty evidence... to the contentious allegations.”

Following the pronouncement of the decision, Adhikari’s lawyer said he would appeal the Supreme Court. In response, Roy’s counsel said it was an “understandable move” given that the ruling had not gone in Adhikari’s favour.

On a day Roy got a breather from the Speaker, Trinamul leader Kunal Ghosh echoed the allegations of “connivance” levelled by him against the Krishnagar North MLA in the past, terming the latter an “influential conspirator” who “should not be spared”. The charge was made in a tweet by Ghosh.

Roy, a former railway minister, had left Trinamul and joined the BJP in 2017.