Babul Supriyo blames WB Governor for row over his oath-taking

Newly-elected Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Babul Supriyo on Sunday said the row over the administration of his oath could have been avoided if the Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was "kinder".

Speaking to ANI, Supriyo said, "I saw the tweet of the Governor. He said that there was no need for me to have written to the Speaker. What should I do? Should I write to the Governor to administer the oath? At the Parliament, we are advised to address all our correspondence to the Speaker."

The newly-elected TMC MLA further said, "I do not know if Constitution mentions that correspondence between Governor and Speaker or Deputy Speaker can be brought to the public domain. What the Deputy Speaker said was that since Speaker is available perhaps the responsibility should have been given to him. I agree."

Supriyo said the fiasco could have been avoided since it was the prerogative of the Governor.

"He had written in the public domain. I too, with all humility, requested him in the public domain to consider that I will be administered the oath at the earliest. The Governor could have been kinder and this entire thing could have been avoidable because it is the prerogative of the Governor," he added.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had appointed Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee as the person to administer the oath to Babul Supriyo, the newly elected member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from the Ballygunge Assembly constituency.

Earlier today, the Raj Bhavan, Kolkata said that Supriyo's request for administration of oath by Speaker was not acceptable as not being in consonance of the Constitution.

However, Deputy Speaker refused to administer the oath, saying it would be an insult to the Speaker.

"Public domain request of Babul Supriyo, elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 161-Ballygunge Assembly constituency seeking Governor for the administration of oath by Speaker is not acceptable as not being in consonance with the Constitution," read the Raj Bhavan release.

"Appointment of the Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee as the person to administer the oath to Babul Supriyo, elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 161-Ballygunge Assembly constituency is in conformity with article 188 of the Constitution," the release added.

"Babul Supriyo is an MLA with effect from the issuance of the Certificate of Election on April 16, 2022. While he addressed no communication to the Governor, his communication to Speaker on April 27, after 11 days of having been issued certificate of election for taking the oath is misconceived and with his enormous experience as Union Minister and Parliamentarian, he is obviously expected to be aware that the Speaker has no role or constitutional competency in the matter, unless so assigned by the Governor. Babul Supriyo approaching the Speaker as regards oath is jurisdictionally flawed unwholesome optics," the Raj Bhavan further said.

The Ballygunge Assembly seat bypoll was necessitated after the demise of state Minister Subrata Mukherjee. Polling for one parliamentary constituency Asansol and one assembly constituency Ballygunge in West Bengal was held on April 12.

Supriyo won the bypolls defeating CPIM's Saira Shah Halim and BJP's Keya Ghosh.

( With inputs from ANI )