Suvendu to be new Leader of Oppn; takes dig at Mamata

The BJP on Monday unanimously selected the social gathering’s Nandigram MLA and former state minister Suvendu Adhikari because the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) within the new West Bengal Assembly.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced Adhikari’s identify because the chief of BJP Legislature Party after a gathering of social gathering MLAs on the BJP election workplace within the metropolis’s Hastings space. Prasad was one of many social gathering’s observers for the election together with senior chief Bhupendra Yadav.
Prasad and social gathering nationwide vice-president and MLA Mukul Roy, who was thought-about one of many frontrunners to go the BJP legislature social gathering, proposed Adhikari’s identify for the publish and was seconded by 22 MLAs. Since BJP is the biggest Opposition social gathering with 77 seats, the Nandigram MLA routinely grew to become the Leader of the Opposition.
With one seat, the Indian Secular Front (ISF) is the opposite Opposition social gathering within the Assembly. Independent MLA RS Lepcha, belonging to the Binay Tamang faction of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), will signify Kalimpong.
At the BJP assembly, Adhikari’s predecessor Manoj Tigga was chosen because the social gathering’s chief whip within the Assembly. The new appointments got here on a day 43 TMC MLAs had been sworn-in as ministers in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s authorities.
“In this Assembly polls, we’ve got to see three issues. One is a chief ministerial candidate who misplaced the election has been sworn in as chief minister — this occurred for the primary time in Bengal. Second, for the primary time, there will likely be no representatives from the Congress and Left Front within the House; and third, for the primary time 77 BJP MLAs will likely be within the Assembly.
“I will try to fulfil my duty and responsibility as the Leader of the Opposition,” Adhikari mentioned after his election. The BJP chief, who joined the social gathering final December, defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram by 1,956 votes. “I will work to fulfil the expectations of the people of Bengal. I will help the state government for its positive efforts but also raise my voice against violence going on,” he mentioned.
Adhikari mentioned, “My first duty will be to make the state violence-free. Several BJP workers are being killed and over 1 lakh cadres had to take shelter in Assam. This should stop,” he added.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh mentioned, “We are for serving the people and we will fight for them to every extent. If needed, we will agitate outside the Assembly,” he added.
— with pti inputs