Kolkata, June 8 (IANS) A petition was filed at a single-judge vacation bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday afternoon, challenging the decision of the new West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose to accept expelled Trinamool Congress legislator Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the new majority bloc of Trinamool Congress in the house and also as the official Leader of the Opposition.

The petition was filed as the original bloc of party legislators continues to remain aligned with former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is also the party’s general secretary.

The petitioner in the matter is veteran party legislator Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, who was originally nominated by both Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition in the state.

The petition was admitted by the single-judge vacation bench of Justice Krishna Rao. The matter is likely to come up for hearing on June 11.

Currently, the Trinamool Congress has 80 legislators in the 294-seat West Bengal assembly. Among them, 60 legislators support the new bloc led by Ritabrata Banerjee. On the other hand, 20 legislators remain with the old bloc, continuing allegiance towards Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee.

A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe is already underway over mismatches in signatures of certain Trinamool Congress legislators in the crucial resolution submitted at the office of the Speaker, nominating Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the Opposition, Asima Patra and Nayna Bandopadhyay as the two deputy leaders of the opposition, and Firhad Hakim as the Chief Whip of Trinamool Congress’s legislative party in the West Bengal assembly.

The mismatches were brought to the attention of the Speaker’s office by Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, following which the CID probe was initiated.

Trinamool Congress immediately suspended Ritabrata and Sandipan. Soon after, 60 legislators, led by Ritabrata, revolted and submitted a fresh resolution claiming to be the majority bloc in the Trinamool Congress’s legislative party.

The Speaker accepted that fresh resolution and Ritabrata was officially recognised as the Leader of the Opposition.

–IANS

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