Babul Supriyo, Trinamool's newly elected MLA from Ballygunge, sworn in

After prolonged tussle between the Governor and West Bengal government for the last few weeks, Trinamool's newly elected MLA from Ballygunge seat Babul Supriyo finally takes oath on Wednesday. The Governor had nominated Deputy Speaker instead of Speaker to take oath, which led to confrontation between the Speaker and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Supriyo, who defected to Trinamool last year after being dropped from the Narendra Modi cabinet, won from Ballygunge where Keya Ghosh of the BJP forfeited her election deposit. Trinamool candidate Babul Supriyo won from Ballygunge assembly seat with more than 20,000 votes. However, the tussle between the Governor and Speaker delayed Supriyo’s oath by several weeks. The seat was vacated following the death of veteran Trinamool Minister Subrata Mukherjee last year in November.

“The oath taking process has been delayed but still it was completed well today. I am happy about it,” Babul Supriyo said, after taking the oath.


Deputy Speaker Asish Bandopadhyay said there was an attempt to create division within the Governor and that attempt has been thwarted. It is pertinent to mention, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar nominated Deputy Speaker Asish Mukherjee instead of Speaker Biman Banerjee. The rift between the Governor and Speaker is quite known with the Speaker and Governor getting engaged in a war of words on several issues, right from Governor’s intervention in state governor’s affairs.

“It is justified for the Deputy Speaker to think this way as the Speaker is present. However, whatever is being done by the Governor is unusual,” CPI-M Polit Bureau members and former MLA Sujan Chakraborty said.