Defying party, Congress MLA Manas Bhunia convenes PAC meet

KOLKATA: Defying party instruction to quit the post of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, senior Congress MLA Manas Bhunia has convened the first meeting of the PAC on Tuesday. “I have convened the meeting tomorrow. Assembly secretariat will inform the PAC members,“ Bhunia said. Asked whether Congress and CPIM members would attend the meeting on Tuesday, Bhunia said “I have no idea about who will attend the meeting and who will not. But as the chairman, it is my responsibility to convene the meeting and I have done my job.“

It is learnt that Congress will boycott Tuesday's PAC meeting. Left Front Legislative Party (LFLP) leader and CPIM MLA Sujan Chakraborty told ET on Monday that he would not be able to attend the meeting. “I met Manas Bhunia at the state Assembly today and I have told him that it would not be possible for me to attend the meeting as I have some other preoccupations. Also I informed Bhunia that our MLA Ashok Bhattacharjee would also not attend the meeting as he has gone to Hyderabad for medical treatment,“ Chakraborty said. RSP MLA Biswanath Chowdhury will also skip the meeting, party sources said.

The ruling Trinamool Congress MLAs will, however, attend the meeting, state education and parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee said. While the Congress is boycotting the first PAC meeting, Left MLAs restrained themselves from saying that they would follow Congress and boycott Bhunia's meeting. But CPIM and Left MLAs would not attend the meeting on Tuesday .

Bhunia was appointed PAC chairman last week by the Assembly speaker Biman Banerjee who ignored opposition leader and Congress MLA Abdul Mannan's recommendation to appoint CPIM MLA Sujan Chakraborty as the chairman.

The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) had written a letter to the speaker Biman Banerjee requesting him to reconsider his decision in regard to Bhunia's appointment. But the speaker has ignored CLP's plea which has now decided to boycott the PAC meeting in order to compel the speaker to change his decision.

Continuous boycott of PAC meeting by the opposition parties will certainly turn the key legislative body into a non-functional unit and the government will certainly find it difficult to face with such a situation in the days ahead.

Infor med sources in Bengal Congress said on Monday that the party and the CLP would try to force Bhunia to step down as PAC chairman. “We don't want Bhunia to function as PAC chairman and we will recommend the speaker the name of another Congress MLA for the post in case he has any objection to appoint CPIM MLA Sujan Chakraborty ,“ said a senior Congress MLA preferring anonymity .

The Congress is utterly displeased with Bhunia as the party thinks that the six-time MLA from Sabong in West Midnapore is very close to the chief minister Mamata Banerjee and had once opposed the party's alliance with the CPIM. “We did not offer Bhunia the post of the opposition leader as we know that he is very soft to Mamata Banerjee,“ the party MLA said.