Bengal cabinet clears proposal to set up Bidhan Parishad

At present the state has a 294-member legislative assembly but there is no upper House

Mamata Banerjee: File picture

Special Correspondent   |  TT  |  Calcutta   | 18.05.21: The Bengal cabinet on Monday cleared a proposal to set up a Bidhan Parishad in the state, upper House of the Assembly, which the chief minister had proposed ahead of the polls.

“A proposal to set up the Bidhan Parishad was put forward by the parliamentary affairs department at the cabinet meeting that lasted for barely a few minutes. The chief minister addressed the cabinet through telephone as she was camping in Nizam Palace at that time. The proposal was cleared by the cabinet,” said a minister who attended the meeting.

Sources said only eight ministers had attended the meeting and only a few other proposals like setting up of satellite centres in various stadiums for Covid patients were cleared.

The minister said among them, the proposal to set up the Bidhan Parishad was the most significant one. “The chief minister had announced Bidhan Parishad after several MLAs, including finance minister Amit Mitra, could not be given tickets for various reasons, including Covid-19. The chief minister made her intentions clear that she was ready to fulfill her promises.”

According to sources in the government, the parliamentary affairs department would now prepare a bill for setting up the Bidhan Parishad, which would be put up in the Assembly.

“But the bill would have to be sent to the Presidential for assent. Once it secures the presidential assent, the work for setting up of the Bidhan Parishad could start,” said a senior official.

In Bengal, Bidhan Parishad was dissolved in 1969 and since then, no proposal was forwarded to the Centre to set up the same, sources said.

The Bidhan Parishad could have a maximum number of one third members of the Assembly seats.

The Bengal Assembly has 294 seats and hence, there could be a maximum of 98 members in the Bidhan Parishad.