The West Bengal Assembly was adjourned for the day on Thursday following uproarious scenes with the Opposition Trinamool Congress demanding the presence of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during a discussion.
Trouble arose after Speaker H. A. Halim asked the Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee of Trinamool Congress to move a motion which highlighted failure of the Left Front government and that the State was on the brink of ruin.
Before moving the motion, Mr. Chatterjee demanded why the Chief Minister was not present when the motion was being placed for discussion.
Alleging that the Chief Minister was not ready to face the House or his own party members - the CPI(M), Mr. Chatterjee said the Chief Ministers’ absence was an insult to the Speaker and he demanded Mr. Bhattacharjee’s resignation.
As the uproar continued, the Speaker ruled that under Rule 319, the Chair could not direct the Chief Minister or any minister to be present in the House and reply to any debate on the motion.
Mr. Chatterjee then claimed that the Speaker had fixed the date of moving the motion under Rule 319 after discussion with Mr. Bhattacharjee.
CLP leader Manas Bhunia supported Mr. Chatterjee’s allegation and asked him not to move his motion till the Chief Minister was present in the House. Left opposition SUCI member Debaprasad Sarkar asked the Speaker to summon Chief Minister.
Alleging that the Speaker was misleading the House and acting at the behest of Alimuddin Street (CPI(M) headquarters), he said State’s Parliamentary affairs minister Sailen Sarkar had been listed to reply to the debate on the motion and not the Chief Minister.
The Speaker told Mr. Chatterjee to move the motion and if it was not moved, the House would be adjourned. At this, Trinamool members trooped to the well and sat in front of treasury bench and obstructed CPI(M) member Robin Mondal to place his views causing obstruction before Speaker’s table.
After repeated attempts failed to impress upon the Trinamool members, the Speaker adjourned the House.
When Mr. Halim was leaving the House, some Trinamool members tried to obstruct him at which the Marshal was called who escorted him out.
