West Bengal governor may soon ask Mamata Banerjee to prove majority, says BJP MP Saumitra Khan

Kolkata: With voices of dissent in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) getting shriller, BJP MP Saumitra Khan on Sunday took a jibe at the ruling dispensation, claiming that the governor may soon ask West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to prove her majority in the Assembly. The TMC, on its part, said the saffron camp leaders have no respect for democracy. Khan, who is also the state president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), said on the sidelines of a programme in Jalpaiguri that the current turmoil and the brewing discontentment in the ruling party have brought to the fore the question if the party still enjoys the support of adequate number of legislators in the House. “The way the MLAs have been dissenting and leaving Trinamool, the governor may all of a sudden ask the chief minister to prove majority… There is a possibility,” Khan said. Several ministers in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet are ready to switch over to the BJP, he stated. Reacting to Khan’s comments, veteran TMC MP Sougata Roy said BJP leaders like him know nothing about the Constitution and its provisions. “How could Khan know first-hand that the governor will make such an unconstitutional move? An elected government cannot be treated this way… and the overwhelming majority of MLAs are with the chief minister. The TMC has the support of 218 legislators in the Assembly,” Roy asserted. The ruling TMC in Bengal has been trying its best to keep its flock together, as several key leaders, including party heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, have, of late, openly aired their grievances against the dispensation. According to BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, the TMC lacks the courage to expel Adhikari, who recently quit from the state Cabinet, as “the party fears that it might face extinction soon. Ghosh also alleged that leaders of the ruling party, who had almost never stepped out of their homes and offices, are now being “forced” to venture out to get an idea about ground realities, ahead of 2021 Assembly polls. “The month of December appears crucial for TMC, as the party is facing extinction with people abandoning the ship. The TMC lacks the courage to expel anyone. It has not been able to expel Suvendu Adhikari,” Ghosh maintained. Mamata Banerjee’s party also did little to address the woes of legislator Mihir Goswami, who recently joined the BJP, the state BJP chief said, adding that more such developments are likely in the coming days. Elections to the 294-member Bengal Assembly are likely to be held in April-May next year.