The Congress with 40 MLAs in the West Bengal assembly today sought status of the main opposition party in the House and demanded that the designation of Leader of Opposition should be given to Mohammed Sohrab.
"We have written a letter to the Speaker demanding that CLP leader Mohammed Sohrab be given Leader of the Opposition status," Congress leader Manas Bhuniya said after meeting Speaker Biman Banerjee.
The party's deputy leader in the assembly Rabindranath Chatterjee also wrote a letter to the Speaker on the same lines.
At present, the Left Front, comprising of political parties, holds the status of the main opposition party in the House with CPI(M) MLA Surya Kanta Mishra as the Leader of the Opposition.
The ruling Trinamool Congress has 186 MLAs, the CPI(M) led Left Front 61 seats, Congress 40, GJM 3 and others 3, besides a nominated member in the 294-member House.
But according to the argument placed by the Congress, the party with 40 MLAs was the single largest party after Trinamool Congress while the CPI(M) by itself had 39 members.
Mishra, however, said that elections were fought as the Left Front and not as a single political party.
"We fought the assembly polls as a front and not as a party and that is why the leader of opposition status has been given to us.
"But as they have written to the Speaker it is for him to decide on the matter," Mishra told reporters.
