Senior Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy were among the 14 MLAs who filed nominations for memberships of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the West Bengal assembly on Wednesday amid speculations that he may be appointed its chairman.
Mr Roy, officially a BJP MLA from Krishnanagar Uttar, switched over to the Trinamool last week but did not resign from the assembly or disqualified under the anti-defection law.
"Today, 14 names were submitted on behalf of the TMC for the membership of the Public Accounts Committee. Mukul Roy's name was in that list," said a senior Trinamool leader. The BJP has also submitted a list of six names for Public Accounts Committee memberships.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said Mr Roy's nomination does not matter as he would cease to exist as a member of the House under the anti-defection law.
The BJP legislative party is apprehensive that the post of the PAC chairman, whose selection is the prerogative of the speaker, might go to Mr Roy as there have been instances when Congress MLAs switching over to Trinamool were appointed to the important post, party sources said.
"As per the norm, the PAC chairman post goes to the opposition party. But in the last assembly, we saw how Manas Bhunia and Sankar Singh held the post despite switching over to the TMC and not resigning as Congress MLAs," a state BJP leader said.
Reacting to this, senior Trinamool MLA Tapas Ray said it is the prerogative of the speaker to select the PAC chairman.
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