KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday declined to stay the appointment of rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, giving his camp an early courtroom advantage on the opening day of the first session under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.
Court Hearing and Interim Relief Denied
Hearing a petition filed by TMC MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Justice Krishna Rao refused to grant interim relief. The judge noted that a resolution submitted to the Speaker by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, nominating Sobhandeb as LoP, remained "in dispute." The court also highlighted an Alipore court order from June 15 that stayed Ritabrata's expulsion from the TMC until June 30. The next hearing has been scheduled for July 28.
Allegations of Signature Forgery
Ritabrata, along with Sandipan Saha (now Deputy LoP) and several other rebel MLAs supporting the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), have alleged that their signatures were forged on a May 6 letter sent to the Assembly Speaker proposing Sobhandeb's name as LoP. This case, dubbed "signgate," is being investigated by the Bengal police Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Sandipan Saha called the High Court's refusal to intervene a "moral victory." He stated, "Ritabrata and I had initiated this fight. We brought the alleged signature irregularities in TMC's letter to the Speaker's notice. The issue then went to court. Today's victory in the High Court confirms that law is on our side."
Political Implications
The High Court's decision has left Ritabrata firmly in the position of LoP for now, but courtroom battles and political trench warfare within the TMC show no signs of easing. Ritabrata commented, "Of 80 Trinamool MLAs, 65 are with us. Of the remaining 15, one is in jail. For the time being, 14 are on the other side. Let us wait and watch."
Assembly Tensions
The ruling did little to cool tensions inside the Assembly. Five loyalists of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee—Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Kunal Ghosh, Madan Mitra, Abdul Rahim Boxi, and Asoke Deb—met with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and demanded separate seating arrangements, making it clear they would not share benches with rebel MLAs.
Kunal Ghosh said, "We will not sit with them. We also told Chief Minister Adhikari that we will not seek time allotments to speak from Ritabrata. He agreed and asked us to coordinate with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shankar Ghosh." He added that Sobhandeb appeared to receive symbolic backing during the Governor's address. "The Chief Minister was not only courteous to Sobhandeb, but we did notice that during the Governor's address, the seat to the left of the Speaker, traditionally reserved for the LoP, was kept for Sobhandeb today."
Get the latest India news and live updates. Download the Times of India App.
