Legislators belonging to the Trinamool Congress and the Congress walked out of the West Bengal Assembly here on Monday after Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim refused to accept a demand for discussion on the recent escalation of violence throughout the State.
MLAs belonging to the Trinamool Congress later staged a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan.
Immediately after the House began, Leader of the Opposition and Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee demanded that the issues of the twin killings at Habra in the State’s North 24 Parganas district on Sunday and the recent violence in several college union elections be discussed by setting aside the question hour.
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“We demanded that the education minister should explain the reason behind the violence during college union elections where the respective principals are obstructing the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad from filing nominations,” Mr. Chatterjee told The Hindu.
When the Speaker refused to accept the demand, the entire Trinamool Congress bench started shouting slogans against the deteriorating law and order situation in the State and subsequently walked out.
The Congress MLAs, led by the party’s chief whip Manas Bhunia, also joined the issue and walked out of the House.
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After leaving the Assembly, the Trinamool Congress MLAs gathered outside the Governor’s House and staged a dharna, requesting to meet the Governor.
“The Governor is out of town and will be back after December 30. The Governor’s secretary has assured us to secure an appointment after that,” Mr. Chatterjee said.
‘Cooperate with State’
Later, accusing the Trinamool Congress of being in league with the Maoists in committing violence in different parts of the State, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee appealed to the Opposition in the House to cooperate with the State government in countering terror.
“The Trinamool Congress has joined hands with the Maoists in areas like Salboni in Paschim Medinipur district and in Khejuri in Purbo Medinipur district. Their activists recently held meetings in the Haldia area,” he said.
Mr. Bhattacharjee alleged that the Maoists had chosen the Jangalmahal area (spanning the southwest parts of the State) as their area of operation because the terrain there was suitable to carry out subversive activities and because the region bordered Jharkhand, where they escaped to after perpetrating violence on this side of the border.
Moreover, they were being aided by activists of the Trinamool Congress, he said.