Kolkata, Aug 4 — Ending speculation, the Assembly Secretariat has finalised the name of an MLA from the opposition camp for the post of chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Assembly.
Sources in the Assembly Secretariat said on Tuesday that Kanaia Lal Agarwal, an MLA from the rebel but majority faction of Trinamool Congress led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, will be made the chairman of the PAC.
Agarwal became an MLA after winning the state Assembly election from Islampur constituency under the Trinamool Congress symbol. Later, when the party split due to internal conflicts, he joined the rebel camp of Trinamool MLAs led by Ritabrata Banerjee.
According to Assembly sources, there are a total of 20 members in the Assembly PAC. Out of them, 14 are from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and six are from the opposition camp. Kanaia Lal Agarwal is among the six opposition MLAs.
BJP has decided to give the chairmanship of 10 committees out of the total 41 committees of the Assembly to the opposition camp.
The chairman of one of the committees will be Nawsad Siddiqui, the only ISF MLA from Bhangar. The remaining nine committee chairmen will be MLAs from the rebel Trinamool camp.
Although the MLAs of the original but minority faction of Trinamool have been made members of various committees, none of them will be made chairman of any committee, according to Assembly sources.
Incidentally, it is alleged that during the Trinamool government era, there was a tradition of making opposition MLAs the chairman of the PAC. After Congress MLA Manas Bhunia left the Congress and joined the Trinamool, he was made the chairman of the PAC. Later, when he became a Rajya Sabha MP, another MLA, Shankar Singh, who had left the Congress and joined the Trinamool, was appointed to the post.
Later, when BJP MLA Mukul Roy joined the Trinamool, he was also made the chairman of the PAC. After Mukul Roy stepped down from the post, Krishna Kalyani, who had left the BJP and joined the Trinamool, was given the responsibility.
Later, Krishna had to resign as a Trinamool candidate from the Raiganj constituency in the Lok Sabha elections. At that time, Alipurduar MLA Suman Kanjilal, who had left the BJP and joined the Trinamool, was made the chairman of the PAC.
However, this time, there has been a change in that tradition. It has been decided to make Kanaia Lal Agarwal, an MLA from the rebel camp of Trinamool, the PAC chairman, and not an opposition MLA who has joined the BJP.