Kolkata, June 24: The faction loyal to former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has faced another setback in the West Bengal Assembly. None of the legislators from this group have been included in the newly formed Business Advisory (BA) Committee.
The Business Advisory Committee is considered one of the most crucial statutory committees in the assembly. It meets before each session to outline the proceedings of the house. Key decisions regarding the duration of the session, agenda, bills to be presented, and the timing for discussions on various topics are made by this committee. In simple terms, it plays a central role in managing the entire proceedings of the assembly.
According to the list of the newly formed BA Committee, there are a total of 19 permanent members. Among these, 14 members belong to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while five members are from the opposition Trinamool Congress.
However, all five permanent members from the opposition are part of the ‘rebel but majority’ faction of the Trinamool Congress, led by expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, who is currently the leader of the opposition in the assembly. Ritabrata Banerjee himself has been appointed as a permanent member of the BA Committee.
In addition to the permanent members, the committee includes 10 invited members. Among them, four members are from the BJP and two from the Trinamool Congress, one of whom represents the Ritabrata Banerjee faction.
Moreover, one of the two Congress MLAs in the assembly, Mohitab Sheikh, has also been made an invited member. Additionally, the only MLA from the CPI(M), along with a representative from the All India Secular Front (AISF) led by Naushad Siddiqui, and the sole MLA from the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) have also been included as invited members.
Constitutional experts believe that both factions’ MLAs are still officially recorded as members of the Trinamool Congress in the assembly’s records. Therefore, questioning the formation and selection of members for the BA Committee is not straightforward.
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