The West Bengal state BJP has written a letter to chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi, protesting against the appointment of state industries minister Partha Chatterjee as the chairperson of Haldia Petrochemicals and requesting the CEC to disqualify the minister as a member of the assembly.
BJP leader Tapan Sikdar said in Kolkata on Wednesday that the state assembly in a recent legislation had granted exemption to ministers and legislators so that they could become chairpersons and directors of companies.
"This legislation could be seen as a pre-emptive measure against legal challenges to its industry minister Partha Chatterjee's new role" as chairman of HPL, a joint venture between the Chatterjee Group and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation. Sikdar said he had already met governor M K Narayanan and requested him to withhold assent to the amendment bill of the assembly. If necessary, BJP would also explore legal steps against the amendment. According to Sikdar, only Parliament could bring about such a legislation, a state legislature did not have the power to do so. Such a law, according to him, would against constitutional norms and moral principles. If ministers were given charge of running companies, it would not be possible for these companies to be run independently. They would also become vulnerable to political pressures. Already another minister had been made chairman of a state-run transport corporation.
Sikdar said, the Congress government at the Centre was powerless to stop the West Bengal government from indulging in such an irregularity as it was dependent on support fromTrinamool Congress for survival.
"Of late, the Trinamool government is indulging in irregular acts, without paying heeds to legal, constitutional and moral principles." He mentioned of a few instances in the past where MPs accepting offices of profit had to choose between either of the two.
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