Veteran BJP leader Tapan Sikdar today demanded that Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi cancel the Assembly membership of West Bengal Industry minister Partha Chatterjee for holding 'an office of profit'. Sikdar said that he had written to Quraishi stating that the appointment of Chatterjee as non-executive chairman of Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL) stating that it was an office of profit. Pointing out that the state government had recently,through an amendment,granted exemption to ministers and MLAs to become chairpersons and directors of companies,Sikdar wanted to know if a state assembly had the right to amend Article 102 (1) (A) of the Constitution,which barred MPs and MLAs from holding an office of profit. "The move can be seen as a pre-emptive measure against legal challenges to Chatterjee's new role as chairman in an office of profit in a company such as HPL," he said. Sikdar told reporters that he would also meet Governor M K Narayanan and Chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta "to inform them that the government has flouted all norms and provisions of law." To a question,he said that the party would wait for some time and that the BJP might move court if nothing concrete took place.
