BJP to move Kolkata HC on appointment of Mukul Roy as PAC chairman

BJP on Tuesday said it will move Kolkata High Court next week for speedy disposal and time bound hearing by the speaker of BJP's objection to the appointment of Mukul Roy as chairman of PAC

BJP on Tuesday said it will move Kolkata High Court next week for speedy disposal and time bound hearing by the speaker of BJP's objection to the appointment of its former national vice-president Mukul Roy as chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari told reporters that Roy, who had turned up at the Trinamool Congress office days after being elected as BJP MLA from Krishnanagar North, has now sought one month's time from Speaker Biman Banerjee to reply to the charges of the saffron party that he has been illegally appointed as PAC chairman and should be disqualified under the anti-defection law.

Roy, who had been asked by the speaker to reply to BJP's charges against him, Tuesday sent a letter to the speaker's office requesting he be granted a month's time to do so citing poor health. He was granted the time, an assembly secretariat official said.

"Roy's letter is faulty. He merely said he is unwell and needed time till the middle of September to give his side of story. But that is not enough. The speaker's office agreed to the request. We cannot wait for this to drag on indefinitely in this way.

"We will move the high court next week urging the court's direction in this matter. We are consulting lawyers," Adhikari said.

Referring to Roy's comment to the media in the assembly premises that he was an MLA of BJP but was ready to work for TMC to increase the party's base in Tripura, Adhikari said "I had commented on it on that day itself."

"TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is the only person to clarify which party Mukul Roy belongs to. She and her nephew Abhisek Banerjee had embraced him with much fanfare at the Trinamool Congress office only sometime back," Adhikari said.

Commenting on it, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said "Suvendu should first explain if anti-defection law shouldn't be used against his father Sisir Adhikari who is yet to step down as MP. He was elected on TMC ticket and pledged loyality to Amit Shah before assembly elections."

After Roy was appointed PAC chairman in the first week of July, BJP MLAs had staged a walk out from the assembly and then submitted a memorandum to the speaker demanding his removal from the post.

The saffron party lawmakers cited documents to support their demand, video clips of Roy's press meet at the TMC office and a screenshot of his tweet after returning to TMC.

Roy, who had been with TMC since its inception, had left the party following differences in 2018 and joined BJP. He was nominated as BJP candidate in West Bengal assembly polls and won.

But he returned to Trinamool Congress which was called 'Ghar wapsi' by the party.