Kolkata: Two first-time BJP MPs Nishith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar, who won in the West Bengal elections but didn’t take the oath last week, will resign from the Assembly to retain their Lok Sabha seats. This will bring down the BJP’s strength in the Assembly from 77 to 75.
The BJP central leadership, sources said, accepted the two MPs’ request to retain their Cooch Behar and Ranaghat parliamentary seats and not enter the Assembly. Their absence at the May 7 swearing-in of new MLAs led to speculation about their intentions.
On Tuesday, Mr Pramanik said: “The party fielded me in the Assembly polls, which I won. Since two posts cannot be held simultaneously, I have been asked by our party central leadership to resign from my Assembly seat. I accepted their decision and will abide by them." Mr Sarkar said: “I will follow our party’s decision. An MP cannot become an MLA.”
A BJP insider said the party gave more importance to the MP posts due to the huge vote bank in seven Assembly segments of each parliamentary seat it won in 2019.
