West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accuses Governor of creating rift between Speaker, his deputy

KOLKATA: Targeting West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar without naming him, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday nobody should try to create a rift between the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, calling such an attempt "unacceptable and unfair".

Her comments came in the backdrop of the recent controversy over Dhankhar asking Deputy Speaker Ashis Banerjee, instead of Speaker Biman Banerjee, to administer the oath to the four newly elected TMC MLAs.

Banerjee said that everybody should respect the Speaker's chair and not undermine it. "I don't want to name anyone but no one should try to demean the Speaker's chair. The Speaker's chair is the biggest constitutional post in the assembly. If someone tries to create a rift between the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, then it is unacceptable and unfair," she told the state assembly.

After Dhankhar authorised the Deputy Speaker, Parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee wrote to the governor requesting him to allow Speaker Biman Banerjee to administer the oath. Dhankhar agreed and Biman Banerjee administered the oath to Subrata Mandal, Braj Kishore Goswami, Udayan Guha and state minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay on Tuesday.

"The attitude that I alone will do everything and others will sit idle is not right. We need to change this attitude," the TMC supremo said.