The Trinamool Congress has announced its intention to enforce stringent actions against Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) who were conspicuously absent during the last two critical sessions of the West Bengal Assembly, without valid reasons and without notifying the party’s chief whip.
The party’s leader and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has asserted that she will personally initiate disciplinary measures against such non-compliant legislators in the future.
This decision was reached during a meeting of the party’s interdisciplinary committee held late on Wednesday evening, presided over by Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, the state’s Parliamentary Affairs and Agriculture Minister, according to party insiders.
Notable attendees at the meeting included Chandrima Bhattacharya, the state’s Finance Minister, Aroop Biswas, the state’s Power Minister, and Firhad Hakim, Kolkata’s Mayor, who also serves as the state’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Urban Development.
Sources within the party revealed that the Chief Minister expressed strong dissatisfaction with the absence of several party legislators during a pivotal debate concerning the declaration of Bengali New Year’s Day as the Statehood Day for West Bengal.
A member of the state cabinet commented, “The chief minister noted with ire that 167 of the 216 party legislators were present during that debate.”
It was further noted that while five legislators were absent for valid reasons, having communicated their medical emergencies in advance, the remainder skipped the sessions without explanation or the party’s legislative team’s consent.
State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay lamented the tendency of some legislators to merely sign the attendance register and depart without contributing to debates. “As elected legislators, they are duty-bound to raise concerns of their constituents on the Assembly floor and actively participate in discussions. This behavior will no longer be tolerated,” he emphasized. (Edited)