State Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay said on Tuesday that “Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar has expressed eagerness to deliver a speech in the West Bengal Assembly. The proposal in this regard has come from the office of the Vice-President. We are considering the issue of calling a special session to facilitate speech delivery by Dhankhar.”
The Vice President has sent the information about his eagerness to Speaker Biman Bandpadhyay expressing his desire to address the state assembly through an IAS officer, who came to Kolkata and met the Speaker, people in the know told ET.
Dhankhar’s representative Sunil Gupta met the state Speaker recently in the assembly. The West Bengal government will decide on calling a special session for this.
In the past, there was no precedent of the President or Vice President being present and delivering speeches in the state assembly.
Rajya Sabha BJP MP Shamik Bhattacharya said, “As former MLA of West Bengal assembly, I welcome such a proposal by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Now it is in the hands of the state government and what they decide on the matter. We have seen tussle during Dhankhar’s tenure in Bengal between the West Bengal government and Raj Bhawan. However, Dhankar is erudite and his knowledge is vast. If he comes to Bengal, it will add a feather to Parliamentary politics and add value to the knowledge of the legislators in Bengal assembly.”
