Mamata loyalists secure separate room, dedicated speaking time in West Bengal Assembly

KOLKATA: A group of Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators loyal to Mamata Banerjee on Thursday secured a separate room and dedicated speaking time in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday. The said advancement came following a meeting with chief minister Suvendu Adhikari.The meeting took place nearly two weeks after 58 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs defied the party leadership. The members reportedly backed expelled legislator Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the opposition instead of the party’s official nominee, senior MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, news agency PTI reported.Chattopadhyay and former TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, both prominent figures of the Mamata Banerjee camp in the legislature party.

They termed their interaction with the chief minister as positive, stating that concerns related to seating arrangements, security and legislative functioning were addressed.“We raised some specific issues before the chief minister. He showed us due respect. There was a detailed discussion on our seating arrangements, a separate room and security-related matters,” Chattopadhyay said.According to the two leaders, Adhikari contacted parliamentary affairs minister Shankar Ghosh during the meeting and instructed him to immediately arrange a separate room for the legislators aligned with Mamata Banerjee.

He ensured that they were given independent time to speak during Assembly debates.Ghosh said Chattopadhyay, who is the most senior MLA in the Mamata Banerjee camp, was given prominence in the seating layout.“Today, we saw the chief minister occupied his designated seat. The seat traditionally associated with the leader of the opposition was allotted to Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, while Ritabrata Banerjee’s seat was elsewhere,” Ghosh said.Launching a sharp attack on Ritabrata Banerjee, whose faction enjoys the backing of a majority of TMC MLAs, Ghosh said the Mamata loyalists would not acknowledge his leadership, PTI reported.“Those who stab the party in the back through unethical means cannot be accepted as leaders by us,” he said.(With agency inputs)