Ritabrata Banerjee named LoP after 58 of 80 TMC MLAs back new bloc

Kolkata: Expelled as Trinamool MLA Ritabrata Banerjee was recognized as Leader of Opposition by the West Bengal Assembly Speaker on Wednesday with the support of 58 Trinamool MLAs even as the opposition Trinamool camp called on Mamata Banerjee to serve as its chief advisor.

The Speaker passed the resolution after more than two-thirds of Trinamool’s 80 MLAs approved the new bloc. “We had two-thirds majority and our claim was accepted by the Speaker. We followed all constitutional principles while putting forward our claim,” Banerjee said. he said.

The Speaker also passed another motion in the resolution nominating Ritabrata as the Leader of the Opposition, Siuli Saha, Javed Ahmed Khan and Sandipan Saha as the three Deputy Leaders of the Opposition and Akhruzzaman as the Chief Whip of the official legislative party of the Trinamool Congress’s new bloc in the Assembly.

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Apart from Ritabrata’s appointment as LoP, MLA Akhruzzaman from Raghunathganj has been elected as Chief Whip, while Shiuli Saha, Javed Ahmed Khan and Sandipan Saha have also been appointed as Deputy LoPs.

Ritabrata Banerjee said the new camp has appealed to former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to become an advisor to the new opposition.
Ritabrata also made it clear that they have no connection with Abhishek Banerjee. In the resolution submitted earlier in the day, Mamata Banerjee was accepted as the supreme leader of the party.