Calcutta, March 17: Presidency College’s run for university status has turned into a political relay race with one team determined to cling on to the baton and the other desperate to grab finishing-line glory.

A prod from Mamata Banerjee had prompted Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to fast-track Presidency College’s upgrade to a university but now the challengers to the chief minister’s chair are determined to oppose the “haste” in passing the bill.

Trinamul Congress and Congress demanded today that the Presidency University Bill, 2009 be referred to a select committee of the House in an attempt to prevent Bhattacharjee from scoring brownie points by formalising Presidency’s upgrade in the current budget session.

“The government shouldn’t hastily push through the bill. It needs elaborate discussions and we won’t let this bill pass in this form,” leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee said demanding its referral to the select committee.

The rulebook says bills introduced in the House are sent to relevant standing committees for examination and recommendations following which the legislation is discussed and then passed. Bills are referred to select committees, with the minister as the chairperson, in matters of “serious import’’.

“We have told the Speaker to convene a meeting of the business advisory committee on Thursday to place our demand… The Speaker has agreed,” added Chatterjee.

Both Trinamul and Congress did not attend the scheduled meeting of the business advisory committee today to protest the Sainbari killings on March 17, 1970, by alleged CPM men.

In the absence of the opposition, the government chief whip Syed Mohammed Masih, the higher education minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury and the Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim decided to table the bill on March 19 at 3pm.

“We will discuss the Trinamul’s select committee demand in Thursday’s meeting. Till then, I can’t say whether the bill will be referred to such a committee,” the Speaker told The Telegraph.

If a bill is referred to the select committee, it can take anything between six months and even three to four years for approval following which it is sent to the House.

Trinamul and Congress leaders admitted that their opposition to the bill in its existing form would delay the upgrade but blamed the government for not heeding their views when the bill was discussed by the higher education standing committee.