Suvendu Adhikari Demands Disqualification of 2 TMC Turncoats, Writes to Bengal Assembly Speaker

BJP MLA from Nandigram in West Bengal and Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Suvendu Adhikari, has written a letter to the Speaker of the state assembly on Monday demanding disqualification of Trinamool Congress (TMC) turncoats Tanmoy Ghosh and Biswajit Das for switching sides.

“Petition for disqualification of Biswajit Das (MLA Bagda in North 24 Parganas) and Tanmoy Ghosh (MLA Bishnupur in Bankura), I request you to dispose of the same as soon as possible (under Anti-Defection Law),” read Adhikari’s letter.

After the recently held assembly polls in West Bengal, four BJP MLAs have jumped ship. Mukul Roy was the first to return (from the BJP) in June, followed by Tanmoy Ghosh on August 30 and Biswajit Das on August 31. Soumen Roy, the sitting BJP legislator from Kaliaganj, also joined the TMC. The BJP’s strength in the assembly has now reduced to 71 because Jagannath Sarkar and Nisith Pramanik preferred to keep their Lok Sabha seats despite winning the state election.

Adhikari has already written letters to the Speaker regarding the disqualification of Mukul Roy and Soumen Roy. He also threatened to take legal action if the Speaker failed to disqualify the leaders.

Speaking to News18, assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, said, “Yes, I have received the letter from the Leader of Opposition today. Let me go through it.” Asked about the letter regarding Mukul Roy and Soumen Roy, the Speaker said, “We are looking into all the matters.”

Adhikari has termed the act of the turncoat MLAs unethical and alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee are pressurising BJP MLAs through police. Already a petition has been filed against Mukul Roy’s PAC chairmanship on July 27 by BJP MLA from Kalyani, Ambika Ray.

On July 9, Mukul Roy was appointed as the PAC chairperson of the West Bengal Assembly. For the last few weeks both BJP and TMC trained guns at each other over misusing the Anti-Defection Law. On June 14, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking disqualification of TMC MP from Contai in East Midnapore, Sisir Kumar Adhikari, who is Suvendu’s father.

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