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THE SECOND meeting of the state Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), called on Friday by its chairman and Congress MLA Manas Bhunia, is also likely to meet the same fate as the first one held on July 12. All members of Opposition parties — Congress and Left Front — are set to stay away.
While the three Congress MLAs — Shankar Singh, Asit Mitra and Sukhabilas Burma — who are members of PAC other than Bhunia, have announced they would boycott the meeting, the three Left Front MLAs — CPM’s Sujan Chakraborty and Ashok Bhattacharya and RSP’s Bishwanath Chowdhury —would not be available as they would be “preoccupied”.
Asked whether the absence of Opposition MLAs in the meeting would affect its proceedings, Bhunia said: “I will hold the meeting and if need be, will take up the matter with the Speaker. He is the custodian of the House and I will seek his advice…”
It has been learnt that AICC leader C P Joshi had asked Bhunia to resign as PAC chairman. Refusing to resign, Bhunia said: “I am answerable to party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. If they call me to Delhi I will go and explain my views to them.”
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Bhunia, meanwhile, has decided to skip the meeting of Congress Legislative Party (CLP) convened by state party president Adhir Chowdhury on Friday, where the Sabang MLA’s refusal to step down as PAC chairman would be discussed.
Bhunia said he would convey the reason for his absence in CLP meeting to Chowdhury. “The PAC meeting was decided well in advance and is my constitutional obligation. I will let the state Congress president know that I will not be able to attend the extended CLP meeting tomorrow,” he added.
Bhunia once again asked Chowdhury to let him work for one year as PAC chairman. Stating that Chowdhury and Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan were “conspiring” against him and humiliating him, Bhunia wondered what wrong he had done by accepting the post, citing the rule book of the Assembly.
“I have requested him to keep calm and allow me to work for the next one year. I have requested him to go through the rule book of the Assembly and decide what wrong I did by accepting the post,” Bhunia told mediapersons.
The MLA alleged that Mannan had deliberately misguided the party and that he and Adhir were trying to project him as an “anti-party” activist. “I am a loyal soldier of the party for the last 46 years. Please don’t question my credentials and make fun of Congress publicly,” he said.
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