AGARTALA: Tripura Speaker Ratan Chakraborty Wednesday formally disqualified a ruling BJP MLA Ashish Das who has joined Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Chakraborty said he has received a complaint from BJP Chief Whip Kalyani Roy against Das alleging anti-party activities and after scrutinizing all legal aspects he disqualified the MLA on Wednesday.
Das was one of the seven MLAs who had met BJP president J P Nadda to demand the ouster of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb. The MLAs had reportedly termed Deb as ‘dictatorial and unpopular.’
The MLA will be deprived of all facilities, including salaries and allowances as an MLA, Chakraborty told PTI.
Das later told reporters that the speaker’s judgement is unjustified and he will seek for legal redress.
The speaker cannot disqualify me as unfit. I will consult legal experts and seek legal redress, he told reporters.
A 43-year old scheduled caste leader, Das had joined TMC by taking the party flag from the hands of the party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee at a party programme here on October 31 last year.
The MLA had also shaved his head, took a dip in the Ganga, performed a yagna at Kalighat temple in Kolkata on October 6 and promised that he will remain tonsured until the BJP government led by Biplab Kumar Deb in Tripura is defeated.
The TMC is trying to expand its political base in Tripura and its leaders have been lately visiting the state. Banerjee has claimed that TMC will oust the BJP government in the state in the 2023 assembly polls.
Source: Press Trust of India
