Fake signature row: TMC's Abhishek Banerjee sends fresh letter to Speaker endorsing Shobhandeb as Leader of Opposition

The letter requested the Speaker to recognise the posts "on the basis of the precedent or practice of Legislative Assembly, which is in vogue for decades together".

Kolkata: TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday shot off a fresh letter to West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose, reiterating the party's decision to appoint Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition (LoP).

The communication added a fresh twist to the ongoing alleged signature forgery case and an additional intrigue to speculations on the fallout of the visible cracks in the Trinamool legislative party from where two MLAs -- Ritrabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha -- were expelled on Monday.

Two TMC MLAs, Kunal Ghosh and Ashima Patra, attempted to deliver the letter by hand to the Speaker, but alleged that, in the absence of Bose in his office, his office secretary refused to accept it, stating he was under verbal instructions not to receive any letters from the TMC.

"Till yesterday, the Speaker was receiving our letters. For unknown reasons, the office has stopped accepting them from today. How can he not receive an official communication from two elected MLAs? Is this a joke? With this attitude, what kind of custodian of democracy can this Speaker become?" Ghosh said.

A top source in the party later said it had emailed the letter to the Speaker following the failure to hand over a hard copy.

The letter signed by Banerjee, which also endorsed Ashima Patra and Nayana Bandyopadhyay as deputy LoPs and Firhad Hakim as chief whip, requested the Speaker to recognise the posts "on the basis of the precedent or practice of Legislative Assembly, which is in vogue for decades together".

Abhishek drew from the 2001 precedent of then Speaker Hashim Adul Halim's acceptance of Pankaj Banerjee as LoP following the TMC's recommendation, a practice, he said, that was followed after the 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021 state elections.

"In 2021, the BJP recommended the name of Shri Suvendu Adhikari, as Leader of Opposition, which was accepted by the then Hon'ble Speaker," Banerjee wrote.

Banerjee also referred to the gesture, born out of convention, of CM Adhikari and Chattopadhyay as LoP designate holding the Speaker's hand and guiding him to his chair in the Assembly following his election on May 15.

"Effectively, you have already recognised Sri Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition on the Floor of the House," Banerjee said, drawing the Speaker's attention to his inviting Chattopadhyay to deliver the welcome speech as Leader of Opposition.

Senior BJP minister Tapas Roy questioned the legality of the letter on the grounds that it carried no supporting signatures from the elected TMC MLAs.

"There seems to be a war of letters within the TMC. First, there was a letter from Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay. Then there was a complaint letter from their MLA Ritabrata Banerjee on the same issue. Now there is this letter delivered by Kunal Ghosh," Roy said.

The latest letter was sent in the wake of the CID probing the signature forgery case after two TMC MLAs -- Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha -- informed Speaker Rathindra Bose on May 27 that "no resolution was adopted about the selection of LoP" in the party's May 6 meeting, as claimed in the party's official communication to the Speaker, and that the duo had signed the meeting resolution book on a later date on May 19.

The two MLAs alleged that the so-called May 6 resolution was "manufactured and fabricated" and stated that as many as 14 of the 70 signatures were in "block letters".

The rebel MLAs were referring to a written communication sent by Abhishek Banerjee to the Speaker on May 20, where he enclosed a copy of the meeting resolution book along with the attendance sheet containing signatures of some 70 MLAs present at the May 6 meeting held at former chief minister Mamata Banerjee's Kalighat residence.

The TMC has subsequently expelled both Banerjee and Saha for indulging in "anti-party activities".

The probe agency, which has issued two appearance summons to Banerjee, the latest one for June 8, has, so far, questioned 13 TMC MLAs in connection with the case.

Of the 13 TMC MLAs whose statements have been recorded by the CID so far, three legislators -- Baharul Islam of Canning Purba, Arup Roy of Madhya Howrah and Subhasis Das of Maheshtala -- have categorically said the signatures in the meeting resolution book are not theirs, the agency has claimed.

The latest letter from Abhishek Banerjee also came amid strong rumours that a section of TMC legislators could break away under the leadership of expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee.

Political circles in the state were abuzz with reports of meetings involving dissident MLAs at a Kolkata hotel and at the MLA Hostel during the last 24 hours, a contention that Banerjee vehemently denied on Tuesday.

"I am not aware of any such developments, and those who contend that I held a meeting at a South Kolkata hotel will have to prove that statement," Ritabrata Banerjee told reporters outside Assembly premises.

Chattopadhyay, though, told PTI that the majority of the party MLAs would remain with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee despite the intense speculation on defections, adding the TMC's old guard would continue to retain control of the organisation.