Bengal PAC chairmanship: Kanaia Lal Agarwal to head key Assembly panel
Synopsis
West Bengal's Public Accounts Committee has a new chairman — and the choice breaks a long-standing tradition. Instead of rewarding a BJP defector who joined the Trinamool, the Assembly Secretariat has picked Kanaia Lal Agarwal from the rebel TMC camp, signalling a shift in how committee patronage is being distributed in the post-Trinamool government Bengal legislature.
Key Takeaways
Kanaia Lal Agarwal , rebel TMC MLA from Islampur , has been finalised as chairman of the West Bengal Assembly PAC as of 4 August .
The PAC has 20 members — 14 BJP and 6 opposition ; Agarwal is among the six opposition members.
BJP has allocated chairmanship of 10 out of 41 Assembly committees to the opposition camp.
Nawsad Siddiqui (ISF, Bhangar) will chair one committee; the remaining nine go to rebel TMC MLAs.
MLAs from the original minority Trinamool faction will be committee members but will not receive any chairmanship.
The appointment breaks a reported tradition of giving the PAC chair to opposition defectors who joined the Trinamool government.
The West Bengal Assembly Secretariat has finalised Kanaia Lal Agarwal as the next chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), ending weeks of speculation over who would head the legislature's most consequential oversight body. According to Assembly sources, the appointment was confirmed on Tuesday, 4 August.
Who Is Kanaia Lal Agarwal
Kanaia Lal Agarwal is a sitting MLA who won the state Assembly election from the Islampur constituency under the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) symbol. Following an internal split within the party, he aligned with the rebel but numerically majority faction of Trinamool MLAs led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee. It is from this rebel camp that he has now been elevated to the PAC chairmanship.
Committee Composition and BJP's Allocation
The Assembly PAC has a total of 20 members — 14 from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and six from the opposition benches. Agarwal is among the six opposition members. Separately, the BJP has decided to allocate the chairmanship of 10 out of 41 Assembly committees to the opposition camp. Of these ten, Nawsad Siddiqui — the sole Indian Secular Front (ISF) MLA from Bhangar — will head one committee, while the remaining nine chairmanships will go to MLAs from the rebel Trinamool faction. Notably, MLAs from the original but minority Trinamool faction have been included as members of various committees but will not be given any chairmanship, according to Assembly sources.
A Break From an Established Pattern
The appointment marks a departure from a pattern that reportedly defined the PAC chairmanship during the previous Trinamool government era. According to Assembly sources, that tradition involved appointing opposition legislators who had crossed over to the Trinamool as PAC chairman — effectively rewarding defectors with the post. Congress MLA Manas Bhunia was the first such appointment; after he moved to the Rajya Sabha, Shankar Singh — also a Congress-to-Trinamool defector — succeeded him. Later, BJP MLA Mukul Roy, after joining the Trinamool, was similarly elevated. When Roy stepped down, Krishna Kalyani, who had left the BJP for Trinamool, took charge. Kalyani subsequently resigned to contest the Lok Sabha election from Raiganj as a Trinamool candidate, after which Suman Kanjilal — an Alipurduar MLA who had also defected from the BJP — was appointed.
What Changes This Time
This time, the chairmanship has gone to a legislator from the rebel Trinamool camp rather than to a BJP defector who joined the ruling side — a structural shift in how the post is being used. Critics have long argued that the tradition of rewarding defectors with the PAC chair undermines the committee's independence, since the PAC is constitutionally designed to scrutinise government expenditure. Whether the new arrangement restores that independence or simply shifts the political calculus remains to be seen.
All eyes will now be on how Agarwal exercises the PAC's oversight mandate, and whether the rebel Trinamool faction's elevation signals a broader realignment in the Bengal Assembly's committee politics.
Point of View
With notable consistency, to legislators who crossed the floor toward the ruling party. That the BJP has now broken this pattern by picking a rebel TMC MLA rather than a defector from its own side suggests the committee allocation is being used to consolidate the rebel faction as a legitimate opposition bloc, not to absorb individuals. The deeper question is whether a PAC chairman drawn from a faction that is itself in political flux can exercise the institutional independence the role demands. West Bengal's Assembly oversight architecture has rarely been tested; this appointment is unlikely to change that unless the committee's proceedings are made meaningfully public.
NationPress
5 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Kanaia Lal Agarwal and why has he been chosen as PAC chairman?
Kanaia Lal Agarwal is a sitting MLA who won from the Islampur constituency on a TMC ticket and later joined the rebel Trinamool faction led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee. He has been finalised as PAC chairman by the West Bengal Assembly Secretariat as part of the BJP's decision to allocate 10 of 41 committee chairmanships to the opposition.
What is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and why does it matter?
The Public Accounts Committee is a key legislative body that scrutinises government expenditure and audits public accounts. It is one of the most powerful oversight committees in any state legislature, making the choice of its chairman politically and constitutionally significant.
How many Assembly committees will the opposition chair in West Bengal?
The BJP has decided to give the opposition chairmanship of 10 out of the total 41 Assembly committees. Of these, nine will be headed by rebel TMC MLAs and one by ISF MLA Nawsad Siddiqui from Bhangar.
What was the previous tradition around the PAC chairmanship in West Bengal?
During the Trinamool government era, the PAC chairmanship was reportedly given to opposition legislators who had defected to the Trinamool — including Congress defectors Manas Bhunia and Shankar Singh, BJP defector Mukul Roy, and others. The current appointment of a rebel TMC MLA breaks that pattern.
Will MLAs from the original minority Trinamool faction get any committee chairmanships?
No. According to Assembly sources, MLAs from the original but minority Trinamool faction have been made members of various committees but will not be given the chairmanship of any committee.
