The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal has accepted a letter from 58 members of the legislative assembly from the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) proposing Ritabrata Bandyopadhy as the leader of the opposition, according to reports on Wednesday.
Bandyopadhyay was expelled from the TMC along with Sandipan Saha for alleged "anti-party" activities. They were reportedly in touch with the MLAs as per previous reports.
The expulsion took place on June 1 according to NDTV. This took place after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari stated that they had filed compaints over the alleged forgery of their signatures.
This was with regards to a letter that endorsed TMC veteran Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay for the position of LoP in the West Bengal Assembly.
Bandyopadhyay and Saha were soon expelled from the party after Adhikari's statement, after which rumours spread regarding a new faction emerging within the TMC, which did not include Chairperson Mamta Banerjee and Party Leader Abhishek Banerjee.
About Ritabrita Banerjee
Ritabrtia Bandopadhyay was previously a part member of CPI (M), and was expelled in 2017 due to allegations that he had gone against the Party line. The party had nominated Bandopadhyay to Rajya Sabha in 2014. His tenure was scheduled till 2020. Bandopadhyay continued as an unattached member in the Rajya Sabha for the next three years.
He entered the upper house on a Trinamool ticket for his remaining term after Jawhar Sircar resigned mid-term as a Rajya Sabha MP after the RG Kar tragedy.
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