TMC suspends 2 MLAs after Suvendu Adhikari's signature forgery claim

The Trinamool Congress, on Monday, suspended two of its newly elected MLAs, Sandipan Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee, for allegedly being involved in anti-party activities.

The expulsion order came immediately after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said in his press conference that the two expelled MLAs had filed complaints of signature forgery on a party letter that endorsed Sobhandeb Chattopadhay as the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly.

Elaborating further, Adhikari said that "TMC has submitted a copy of a resolution supposedly signed by 70 MLAs. However, two AITC MLAs, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, have alleged that no such resolution ever took place or was signed, claiming the entire document is manufactured and fabricated. Notably, 14 of the signatures are written in block letters. Three MLAs have already explicitly stated that they never signed any resolution. Following these discrepancies, the Secretary of the Speaker lodged an FIR at the Hare Street police station, and the case has now been handed over to the CID."

He further said that the CID is probing the matter independently, and the state government has no role in it.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress accused the two MLAs of harming party interests through several means.

“It has been observed that you have engaged in activities and made statements that are prejudicial to the interests of AITC," the expulsion letter, signed by the party’s vice president, Chandrima Bhattacharya, read.

In addition to this, the letter also highlighted the repeated absence of the two MLAs in the recently held party meetings.

"It has been brought to the notice of the All India Trinamool Congress through its competent authority that, despite having been elected as a candidate nominated by the AITC, you have repeatedly failed to attend meetings convened by the authorised leadership of the party and have made yourself involved in anti-party activities," the letter added.

Sandipan Saha, who was elected from Entally assembly constituency, defeating BJP heavyweight Priyanka Tibrewal by a margin of more than 34,000 votes, skipped the recent meeting hosted at Mamata Banerjee’s home.

Ritabarata, a left turncoat to the TMC, on the other hand, met Bengal assembly speaker Rathindra Bose last week in the presence of CM Suvendu Adhikari. Sandipan was also present at the meeting.

Although it was described as a courtesy meeting, speculation mounted that the two might defect from the party.

WHAT IS THE MLA SIGNATURE FORGERY CASE?

The controversy is centred around a letter that nominated veteran TMC leader and MLA-elect from Ballygunge assembly constituency, Sovondeb Chattopadhay, the leader of the Bengal state assembly after TMC's poll rout.

Multiple claims were raised that signatures of some of the elected MLAs were forged on the paper without their consent.

Earlier, the investigative agency questioned TMC MLAs Kunal Ghosh and Nayna Bandyopadhyay in this regard.

CID also issued a notice to the party’s national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, on Saturday, summoning him to its headquarters. However, the Diamond Harbour MP skipped the summons, citing health adversities.

NO PLACE OF MORALITY IN TMC, SAYS SANDIPAN SAHA

Defending himself against the allegations, Sandipan, one of the suspended MLAs, said that there is no room left in the TMC for morality.

"In this party, anyone who speaks of morality will be deemed to be engaging in anti-party activity, simply because the party itself does not engage in any moral conduct," he told ANI.

"If, today, we have been suspended from the party for the sake of upholding morality, we are actually quite pleased. Performing moral acts is indeed the duty of every legislator, which is precisely what we have done," he further added.