Bengal: 2 BJP MLAs chose to remain MPs, step down

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Kolkata, May 12 (IANS) The BJPs MLA count in West Bengal came down to 75 from 77 on Wednesday after two of its MPs, who won the Assembly polls and became MLAs, decided to continue as parliamentarians and resigned from the legislative Assembly.

Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik, who won from Dinhata in the district, and Jagannath Sarkar, BJP MP from Ranaghat who won from Santipur in Nadia district, tendered their resignation to Speaker Biman Banerjee in the state Assembly on Wednesday.

"We have followed the party's decision. The party has decided that we should resign from our Assembly seats," Pramanik said.

Speaking on the post-poll violence in the state, the MP from Cooch Behar said, "The people of Cooch Behar have rejected Trinamool Congress, so they (Trinamool) are resorting to violence. There will be a by-election now in which the BJP will win again."

"The official announcement is a matter of time. The central leadership of the party is keen that the two continue as MPs," said a BJP source, adding that the decision has been conveyed to the two MPs who are yet to take oath.

The BJP had fielded four Lok Sabha MPs in the West Bengal Assembly Elections. Apart from Pramanik and Sarkar, the party had fielded Locket Chatterjee and Babul Supriyo while Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta was the fifth MP nominee. Dasgupta had resigned before filing his nomination from the Tarakeswar seat from where he lost the Assembly polls. Both Chatterjee and Supriyo lost too.

Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien said, "BJP had fielded four Lok Sabha MPs and one Rajya Sabha MP in the Bengal elections. Three of them lost the elections and two won. These winning MPs also resigned today. The world's largest party set a world record of achieving zero in the elections."

--IANS

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