AGARTALA: Tripura Assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath has started the process for individual hearing and verification of signatures of the six dissident MLAs of opposition Congress, who had earlier announced to quit from the party and join Trinamool Congress.
Former leader of the opposition, Sudip Roy Burman and three other dissident MLAs of Congress met the Speaker on Tuesday last and handed over a letter signed by six MLAs informing him that they joined TMC and demanded recognition as the main opposition party.
A senior assembly official said Debnath has begun the process of individually hearing and verifying signature of dissident Congress legislators.
Earlier, the Speaker told reporters that he would call all the six MLAs for individual hearing and verification of their signatures and also consult the experts before taking a final decision.
The leader of the dissident group, Burman said he received the notice to meet the Speaker on June 22 and another dissident MLA, Asish Saha said he was asked to meet the Speaker on June 20.
The other MLAs could not be contacted.
The MLAs are Burman, Saha, Biswabandhu Sen, Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl, Pranjit Singha Roy and Dilip Sarkar.
Burman had earlier been elected the leader of the TMC legislature group in Tripura and is expected to stake claim to the post of the Leader of the Opposition.
In the 60-member House, the Left Front has 50 seats and of the 10 MLAs of Congress, six submitted the letter to the Speaker.
State Congress President Birajit Sinha and two other MLAs remain with Congress.