Kolkata, June 11 Pandemonium broke out within the West Bengal Assembly on the third day of the Monsoon session of the House on Wednesday, after some legislators from the Treasury bench moved a motion of breach of privilege against the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and BJP leader, Suvendu Adhikari, accusing the later of making "misleading" and "derogatory" statements against the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Trinamool Congress legislators moved the breach of privilege motion, claiming that while speaking to the media persons outside the Assembly on Tuesday, LoP Adhikari accused the Chief Minister of echoing Pakistan's narrative on the issue of "Operation Sindoor", the strike through which the Indian Armed Forces destroyed several terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir last month.
During the Question Hour session in the afternoon, Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay raised the issue and told the House that five Trinamool Congress legislators -- Shovandeb Chattopadhyay, Arup Biswas, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Nirmal Ghosh and Indranil Sen had moved the breach of privilege motion against LoP Adhikari in the matter.
While observing that such comments by the LoP about the Chief Minister Banerjee were against the sanctity of the House, the Assembly Speaker told that the matter is being referred to the privilege committee, which will submit its report on the matter to the House by the end of the Monsoon session which would continue for two more weeks.
Although LoP Adhikari was not present in the House at that moment, the BJP legislators led by the party's Chief whip in the Assembly, Shankar Ghosh, vehemently protested against the breach of privilege motion.
The BJP legislators flared up further over the decision of the Speaker to expunge Ghosh's statement.
The BJP legislators first protested within the House and later staged a walkout.
"On one hand the Speaker is not allowing our MLAs to refer within the House to any statement made by any Trinamool Congress legislator outside the House. On the other hand, a breach of privilege motion against the Leader of the Opposition on what he said outside the House is accepted. Is this not self-contradictory," Ghosh claimed.
--IANS
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