New Delhi: The Indian Express reported that Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday sent a special messenger to West Bengal Speaker Biman Banerjee expressing his desire to deliver a speech in the Legislative Assembly, officials said.
Dhankhar, who remained West Bengal governor from 2019 to 2022 before he was appointed Vice President, sent as his messenger Sunil Gupta, a senior IAS officer, who met Speaker Banerjee in the Assembly.
However, both Banerjee and Gupta did not divulge anything to the media. A senior Assembly official said, “Gupta put forth the Vice President’s proposal before the Speaker but he has not taken any decision as yet.”
“There is no precedent of a vice president delivering a speech in an Assembly. Therefore, the Speaker did not take a decision right away. For this, he will have to call a special session and then take a decision,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Speaker also reserved his decision on whether Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya, one of the main accused in the school jobs scam case, will get his salary for the period when he was in jail. He was arrested by CBI in October 2022 and he was released on bail in September 2024 after remaining in jail for 23 months.
After getting bail, he filed an appeal in the Assembly to reimburse his salary during his jail custody period. The Speaker heard his case on Tuesday and took suggestions from the State Auditor General. The Speaker, however, reserved his decision in the matter.
