West Bengal Assembly to discuss resolution against division of the State

The Assembly Session will start with the Governor’s address to the House, the first in the State Assembly after assuming office

The Budget Session of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly will begin on February 8. A resolution against the division of the State would be taken up for discussion in the Session, among other issues. The Assembly Session will start with Governor C. V. Ananda Bose ‘s address to the House. This will be the Governor’s first address to the State Assembly after assuming office.

On Tuesday, no representative of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) participated in the Business Advisory Committee held in the State Assembly. Speaker of the Assembly Biman Banerjee expressed hope that the Members of the Opposition would listen to the Governor’s address and allow the House to function. Mr. Banerjee said that in the past, the Opposition members had listened to the speech of the Governor without any fuss. The Speaker said that the Opposition members could always air their views while participating in the discussion.

The Budget of the West Bengal government for the economic year 2023-24 is likely to be tabled in the House on February 15. During the upcoming Assembly Session, a resolution is likely to be tabled from the Treasury Benches against any division of the State of West Bengal. The Speaker said if such a resolution was brought, it would get priority. “It is an important matter. In different news media reports we come across people raising the issue of division of Bengal. If there is any such resolution in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly then we must take it up for discussion,” Mr. Banerjee said.

Leaders from north Bengal, particularly MLAs of the BJP have raised the issue of division of West Bengal several times. The State BJP leadership had tried to dismiss these remarks as something made in personal capacity. Chief whip of the BJP in the State Assembly Manoj Tigga on Tuesday said the State BJP did not endorse division of the State. Mr. Tigga said that the Trinamool, by agreeing to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in the Darjeeling hills in 2011, had agreed to some sort of division of the State.

The BJP MLA said that the party had decided not to participate in the Business Advisory Committee meeting on the grounds that the Public Account Committee chairperson’s post had been denied to the party. The posts of PAC chairperson had gone to Mukul Roy and after his resignation to Krishna Kalyani— both BJP MLAs who had defected to the Trinamool Congress after the 2021 Assembly polls. The Speaker said that the decisions of the House had been taken as per laid-down procedures and the Constitution, and he was not aware that Krishna Kalyani was no more a BJP legislator.