Sought appointment with Speaker to submit resignation but no response from him: Supriyo

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Former BJP MP Babul Supriyo on Friday claimed that he has sought an appointment with the Lok Sabha Speaker to submit his resignation but has not heard anything from the office of Om Birla.

In a series of tweets, the Asansol MP claimed he has confirmed about his parting ways with the BJP and was waiting for the Speaker to give him time.

“Have parted ways with @BJP4India & had confirmed long before that, unlike many others who hold on to their MP seat inspite of changing Parties, I am not going to do so & shall resign as soon as Hon’ble Speaker Sir grants me his time. Attaching proof of vacating my Bunglow,” he said.

The MP, who joined the TMC recently, also said his fellow Lok Sabha colleague and senior politician Saugata Roy has also requested the speaker to respond in the matter.

Supriyo, reacting to reports that claimed he had never called the Office of the Speaker for an appointment after announcing his decision to resign, tweeted a letter he wrote to Birla on September 20 seeking time.

“With due respect to the High Office of Hon’ble Speaker Shri @ombirlakota I very humble present the official letter I sent on the 20th of Sept which also bears a ‘Received’ acknowledgment from Hon’ble Sir’s office. A separate request for the same was made by Shri @SaugataRoyMP too,” Supriyo tweeted.

He also said that both he and TMC’s Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien were in touch with the Speaker’s office on the issue on a daily basis.

“I also personally spoke to his OSD since I had to leave for Kolkata. It’s disappointing that a completely unnecessary controversy has cropped up about this,” he said.

O’Brien confirmed his party colleague’s version and even clarified that the letter did not have a stamp of receipt because that is not Parliament protocol.

“The protocol is that these letters are NOT stamped by the receiver. Even in Parliament. Letters are NOT stamped. Countless calls were made to the Hon. LS Speaker’s office by @SaugataRoyMP and my office. And the sitting LS MP concerned also called. How long can they stall you?” O’Brien tweeted.

Sources said that the Lok Sabha Secretariat maintained that the letter sent by Suprito did not mention that he sought time to resign.

In fact, the letter tweeted by Supriyo also did not say that he wished to meet with the Speaker about his resignation.

Sources in Lok Sabha Secretariat said Lok Sabha Speaker regularly meets MPs even without prior appointments.

The Speaker’s office doors are always open for MPs, they said.

The singer-turned-politician began his political career by joining the BJP in 2014 where he won the Lok Sabha elections from Asansol and repeated his performance in 2019.

Supriyo held many portfolios as the minister of state in multiple ministries till he was dropped in the first reshuffle of the Modi government in July.

Supriyo surprised many by going to Kolkata and joining the Trinamool Congress on September 18, weeks after he publicly claimed that he was quitting politics.