Halim: Sticking to his guns

Calcutta, May 22: Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim today ruled out granting the status of an Opposition party to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress.

The party had achieved the status by winning its seat No. 30 ? Bhatpara, which went to the polls later than the rest because the election had been countermanded following a candidate’s demise ? but lost it again with the death of Bongaon MLA Bhupen Seth.

The Speaker, who had earlier taken a lenient view of Trinamul’s predicament, today said it “will have to wait for the byelection to Bongaon”.

“I shall consider giving the party Opposition status only if it is able to get 30 seats.”

The change of mind happened after Trinamul broke norm by writing to the Assembly secretary and not the Speaker informing him about the choice of its leader in the House ? Partha Chatterjee ? and the chief whip ? Ashok Deb.

“This is for your information and necessary action,” read the letter to the Assembly officer signed by Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy at Mamata’s instance.

“Trinamul’s letter will be put up at my desk tomorrow for consideration. But it is not possible to enjoy the Opposition status if a party fails to bag one-tenth of the strength of the 294-member House. It is not a question of who the letter had been addressed to,” Halim maintained.

Observers said Mamata’s decision to bypass the Speaker was intentional.

A Trinamul functionary said that in her bid to “disregard” the Speaker, she may not have bargained for the consequences.

“Partha would have got the rank of a cabinet minister and associated privileges had we written to the Speaker straightaway, but Didi stood in the way,” a Trinamul leader said.

The leader was also doubtful if the party will be able to retain Bongaon. “Bhupenda, who lost the seat in 2001, wrested it this time by a margin of about 3,500 votes. So, the by- poll is going to be very tough for us.”