West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday on Tuesday urged senior party leader Manas Bhunia to resign as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), a post to which he was appointed a day earlier.Rejecting Leader of the Opposition Abdul Mannan's recommendation of Left Front legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty, of the CPI-M, for the post, Speaker Biman Banerjee on Monday announced Bhunia's appointment as the PAC chairman prompting angry reactions from both the Congress and the Left.Terming the appointment as a "trap" laid by the state's ruling Trinamool Congress to break the unity of Congress, Chowdhury urged Bhunia to step down.
"We have requested Manas Bhunia not to fall to this trap by accepting the chairmanship of PAC. For the unity of the party as well as his political credibility he must not accept the post," said Chowdhury who on the day sent several SMSs to Bhunia with the request.While Bhunia has refrained from commenting on the issue, he has urged for calling a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) to tell his side of the story."The CLP meeting will be held at the earliest. By the time the meeting is organised, I hope that Bhunia prepare himself to reject this Trinamool gift," added Chowdhury.Mannan on the day reiterated his assertions that Bhunia's appointment was in pursuance of a "conspiracy hatched by Trinamool supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee".