Calcutta, June 7: The budget session of the 14th Assembly will begin tomorrow in the absence of a “recognised Opposition party”.

The Trinamul Congress, which has 29 MLAs after the death of the Bongaon legislator, will not get the status bec- ause it has less than 10 per cent of the seats in the House of 294. A party must have 30 MLAs for its leader to be recognised as leader of the Opposition and enjoy cabinet rank.

Trinamul, which bagged 29 seats in the last election, got to the magic number when Arjun Singh was elected in the Bhatpara bypoll on May 19. But the next day, Bhupen Seth of Bongaon died of heart attack.

According to rules, an Opposition party gets 50 per cent of the time allotted to any discussion. The Speaker said he is no longer bound to provide that much time to Trinamul.