KOLKATA: Bayron Biswas, the lone Congress MLA of the West Bengal Assembly took oath as a member of the House on Wednesday, 20 days after he won a by-election. Speaker Biman Banerjee administered oath to Biswas who said he would strive to fight for the people’s issues on the floor of the House. The Congress which drew a blank in the 2021 assembly election in the state secured a seat as Biswas wrested the minority-dominated Sagardighi constituency from the ruling Trinamool Congress in a by-poll held last month. He was supported by the CPI(M)-led Left Front.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sandhya Rani Tudu was the lone TMC legislator who was present at the oath-taking ceremony. A few BJP MLAs and senior Congress leaders were also there.
Speaking over the delay in the oath-taking ceremony, Biswas said had he been a TMC legislator, his oath-taking ceremony would have been completed within a week.
“Just because I am a Congress MLA; it took 20 days to organise my oathtaking ceremony,” he said. The result of the by-poll to Sagardighi in Murshidabad district was announced on March 2.
“The people of Sagardighi have allowed me to serve them and the people of the state. I will fight for the people’s issues on the floor of the House. I would aim to uphold my party’s views and fight the corrupt TMC regime and divisive forces,” he told reporters.
Biswas’s victory from Sagardighi has kicked off a war of words, with Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee accusing the Congress of having a tacit understanding with the BJP in the state.
The TMC recently also announced that it will maintain equidistance from the BJP and the Congress and would try to align with regional parties to fight the saffron camp in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, hours before the oath-taking ceremony of Biswas, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh demanded his arrest accusing him of abusing TMC leader Sanjay Jain and his mother over the phone.
Ghosh released an audio clip in which the Congress MLA allegedly used abusive words against Jain, a TMC leader of Dhuliyan in Murshidabad district and his mother.
“In a civilised society, this is not acceptable. We demand that the police initiate legal action against him,” Ghosh said.
PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the audio clip.
Reacting to Ghosh’s allegation, Biswas dubbed it as baseless and politically motivated. “These are being fabricated as the TMC is yet to digest its defeat in the Sagardighi by-poll,” he said.
In the 2021 assembly elections, the Congress and the Left Front failed to open their account in the West Bengal Assembly for the first time since independence. The Congress and the Left supported ISF candidate Naushad Siddiqui was elected from the Bhangore seat then.