Legislators of the Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party came face to face with each other in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly premises on Wednesday amidst slogans of ‘chor chor thieves-thieves’ directed at each other.
Chief Minister Manata Banerjee joined the dharna of Trinamool Congress whereas Leader Of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari joined the protesting BJP legislators.
The Trinamool MLAs on Tuesday had started a demonstration on the West Bengal Assembly premises on Tuesday, seeking immediate release of central funds for the rural job scheme MGNREGA. On Wednesday Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee joined the protests with other MLAs under the statue of B R Ambedkar.
While Ms. Banerjee was participating in the dharna, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari entered the House and started shouting ‘ chor chor’ barbs at the Chief Minister. Mr. Adhikari, who was suspended from the House by Speaker Biman Banerjee, called “Mamata Chor”. The BJP leaders are targeting Trinamool over the arrest of several of party leaders in scams.
The Trinamool legislators also started shouting “chor chor” at BJP MLAs. Both groups of legislators about 30 metres apart raised slogans at each other. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Opposition MLAs were being impolite.
“Our protest had approval from the Speaker but they had no permission. I would urge the Speaker to involve the police and look at the videos and take action,” the Chief Minister said. Ms. Banerjee dared the BJP leadership not to threaten her “with the names of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi”.
Earlier in the day the State Assembly passed a bill to increase the salaries of MLAs and Chief Minister participated in the debate. The salary of MLAs has been increased to Rs 40,000 a month .Members of the opposition BJP were not present in the House when The Member’s Emoluments (Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed
Meanwhile, Trinamool spokespersons rebutted allegations made by Amit Shah at the rally in Kolkata and dubbed the event as a flop show. “It is startling to note that while Lok Sabha elections are just around the corner, Amit Shah was talking about the 2026 Assembly elections,” Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh said.
State’s Minister Sashi Panja raised questions that even though CAA was passed four years ago, it has received nine extensions since to formulate its rules. “BJP raises the CAA issue during elections and the issue takes a backseat after the polls as they will not be able to implement it ever,” she added.
Photos in DCX
EOM
