News Analysis India

Tag: Biman Banerjee

  • Privilege motion moved against Suvendu Adhikari for ‘disrespectful’ remarks against Bengal Speaker

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A privilege motion was on Friday moved against Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari for his “disrespectful” remarks against West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, a day the Nandigram legislator’s suspension in the House was revoked.

    Banerjee on Thursday withdrew the suspension order he had issued against seven BJP MLAs, including Adhikari.

    TMC MLA Partha Bhowmick moved the motion against Adhikari, after the BJP legislator, while airing his views on MLA Mukul Roy’s disqualification case, apparently made a disparaging remark against the speaker.

    Earlier this month, Banerjee had rejected a plea by Adhikari to disqualify Roy, saying that he did not find merit in the argument of the petitioner.

    The speaker, during the day, accepted the motion and referred it to the Privilege Committee, which has been asked to look into it and submit a report at the earliest.

    “The nature of the comments made by Adhikari is not only disrespectful but also an insult to the chair. That is why I had moved the Privilege Motion. I hope appropriate action would be taken against him,” Bhowmick told reporters.

    Reacting to the development, chief whip of BJP legislative party, Manoj Tigga, said this is an attempt to “stifle the voice of opposition”.

    “The politically motivated allegations are being made to stop the BJP and Suvendu Adhikari from raising the people’s issues in the Assembly,” Tigga claimed.

    Clashes had broken out in the House on March 28 between legislators of the ruling TMC and BJP, following which the speaker had suspended Adhikari, Tigga and three other MLAs.

    Earlier in March, BJP legislators Mihir Goswami and Sudip Mukhopadhyay were suspended over their conduct during governor’s address in the House.

  • Suspended by Speaker, five West Bengal BJP MLAs including Suvendu Adhikari move Calcutta HC

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Five BJP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, on Wednesday filed petitions before the Calcutta High Court challenging their suspension from the West Bengal Assembly by Speaker Biman Banerjee.

    One of their lawyers said that the petitions are likely to be heard before the appropriate bench of the high court soon. The five BJP MLAs were suspended by the Speaker for future sessions this year for their alleged unruly conduct in the House on March 28, the last day of the Budget session.

    Besides Adhikari, the other MLAs include Dipak Burman, Shankar Ghosh, Manoj Tigga, and Narahari Mahato.

    The assembly had witnessed pandemonium on the day as ruling TMC and BJP MLAs scuffled after saffron party legislators demanded a statement by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the “worsening” law and order situation in the state.

  • Hearing of Mukul Roy disqualification case to begin again in Assembly: West Bengal Speaker

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The hearing into Mukul Roy’s disqualification as an MLA will begin again in West Bengal assembly, Speaker Biman Banerjee, who had earlier dismissed a petition on it, said on Monday. Assembly sources said the hearing in the case is likely to begin this Friday. “The honourable court has sent a reminder. I will look into it legally. I will call both parties and hold a hearing,” Banerjee told reporters here.

    Calcutta High Court had last week set aside the speaker’s order dismissing a petition by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari seeking disqualification of TMC lawmaker Mukul Roy as a member of the House on the ground of defection and restored the matter for fresh consideration.

    Roy, a former BJP national vice-president, had defected to the ruling TMC from BJP in June 2021 after winning the assembly poll in West Bengal on a BJP ticket. In February this year, Banerjee had dismissed Adhikari’s petition of June 17, 2021 seeking Roy’s disqualification as an MLA under the anti-defection law for switching sides after the election.

    BJP MLA Ambika Roy had moved the HC in July last year challenging Roy’s election as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and prayed for the nomination of an opposition member to the post as per tradition.

  • Chaos in Bengal assembly over reduction in liquor prices, BJP MLAs walkout

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: BJP MLAs staged a walkout in the West Bengal assembly on Wednesday after Speaker Biman Banerjee refused to admit a series of adjournment motions moved by the opposition parties over a host of issues, including the reduction in duty on liquor while ignoring taxes on fuel.

    Reading out one of the adjournment motions, BJP’s Asansol South MLA Agnimitra Paul said duty on liquor has been reduced in the state, but the government did not decrease the VAT on petrol and diesel.

    BJP’s Siliguri MLA Sankar Ghosh moved an adjournment motion over post-poll violence in the state. Another motion was moved over the unemployment situation in the state.

    As the speaker refused to admit the adjournment motions, the BJP MLAs trooped into the Well, shouting slogans against the Mamata Banerjee-led government.

    Amid the din, they walked out of the House. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari told reporters outside the House that the state government was trying to lead the youth of the state to the wrong path by slashing liquor prices by up to 30 per cent.

    This move will ruin many families of the state, he said. He said that the state government should immediately reduce VAT on fuel as prices of commodities are skyrocketing.

    He claimed that the unemployment situation in the state was precarious, alleging the government was not providing jobs to those belonging to the OBC category.

    The BJP’s north Bengal MLAs will move an adjournment motion on Thursday, highlighting the plight of tea garden workers in the state, Adhikari announced.

  • West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accuses Governor of creating rift between Speaker, his deputy

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Targeting West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar without naming him, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday nobody should try to create a rift between the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, calling such an attempt “unacceptable and unfair”.

    Her comments came in the backdrop of the recent controversy over Dhankhar asking Deputy Speaker Ashis Banerjee, instead of Speaker Biman Banerjee, to administer the oath to the four newly elected TMC MLAs.

    Banerjee said that everybody should respect the Speaker’s chair and not undermine it. “I don’t want to name anyone but no one should try to demean the Speaker’s chair. The Speaker’s chair is the biggest constitutional post in the assembly. If someone tries to create a rift between the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, then it is unacceptable and unfair,” she told the state assembly.

    After Dhankhar authorised the Deputy Speaker, Parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee wrote to the governor requesting him to allow Speaker Biman Banerjee to administer the oath. Dhankhar agreed and Biman Banerjee administered the oath to Subrata Mandal, Braj Kishore Goswami, Udayan Guha and state minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay on Tuesday.

    “The attitude that I alone will do everything and others will sit idle is not right. We need to change this attitude,” the TMC supremo said.

  • Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee files affidavit in HC on PIL for Mukul Roy’s removal as PAC chief

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Calcutta High Court in connection with a PIL seeking removal of MLA Mukul Roy from the post of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman.

    A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice R Bharadwaj directed that the matter will be taken up for hearing again on August 24.

    The Speaker submitted the affidavit on the appointment of Roy as the PAC chairman.

    BJP MLA Ambika Roy moved the PIL before the high court seeking removal of Mukul Roy from the post of PAC chairman of the West Bengal assembly, making the Speaker of the House one of the respondents in the petition.

    The state government has opposed the prayer claiming that it is the domain and discretion of the Speaker of the Assembly.

    The petitioner has claimed that the post of PAC chairman traditionally goes to an opposition member, but since Mukul Roy has joined the ruling Trinamool Congress after being elected on a BJP ticket, he should be removed from the post.

    Claiming that a court cannot interfere in the decisions of a Speaker concerning the business or conduct of an Assembly as per Article 212 of the Constitution, Advocate General Kishore Dutta had on July 30 contended before the court that the PIL was not maintainable and should be dismissed.

  • Bengal governor meets speaker, says constitutional institutions need to be in sync

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Friday met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and discussed the need for constitutional institutions to be in sync to serve public interest.

    Dhankhar tweeted that the Speaker called on him at the Raj Bhavan here.

    “The two deliberated for an hour traversing issues and emphasizing constitutional institutions need to be in sync to subserve larger public interest,” the governor wrote on the microblogging site.

    Banerjee had recently complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about “excessive interference” on the part of governor in matters related to parliamentary democracy and functioning of the House.

    Dhankhar further said, “Constitutional bodies working in tandem and coordination is quintessential for functional democracy. Democracy blossoms as a consequence of this wholesomeness.”

    “Traditions and practices are our legacy from the past and the same need to be nurtured in healthy manner,” he added.

  • Forces plotting to bifurcate Bengal will be defeated: Speaker Biman Banerjee

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that forces plotting to bifurcate the state will be defeated.

    Addressing a programme of the Gorkha community in Kolkata, he said that the entire north Bengal region including the Darjeeling Hills is and will remain an integral part of the state.

    “Some forces are at work to separate north Bengal from our state. They will be defeated. Bifurcation of West Bengal will never be allowed,” he said.

    The speaker also dwelt on how Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was working towards inclusive development of all regions of the state.

    A section of BJP leaders including Alipurduar MP and central minister John Barla had recently advocated carving out a Union territory comprising north Bengal districts, alleging lack of development in the region for years.

    BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh and other leaders dissociated themselves from Barla’s statements and said that the party does not support any demand for bifurcation or division of West Bengal.

  • Bengal budget session to begin from July 2, COVID protocols to be followed

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The budget session of the West Bengal Assembly will begin from July 2 with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s address, Speaker Biman Banerjee said on Tuesday.

    The budget is likely to be placed in the house the next day of the commencement of the session or the day after, assembly sources said.

    The duration of the session is yet to be finalised.

    “The budget session of the West Bengal assembly will begin from July 2 with Governor’s address. However, it is yet to be decided till when the session will continue,” Banerjee said.

    The session will be conducted following all COVID-19 protocols.

    According to TMC chief whip Nirmal Ghosh, just like the previous vote-on-account was placed by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee herself in February session due to ill health of state finance minister Amit Mitra, this time too the budget might be presented by either the CM or parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee in case Mitra is unable to do so.

    “However, nothing has been decided so far in this regard”, he said.

    Ghosh said the tenure of the budget session is likely to be decided during the Business Advisory committee meeting on June 28.

    This will be the first occasion that Banerjee and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari will face each other on the assembly floor.

    Once considered a protg of Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari switched over to the BJP just ahead of the assembly polls and defeated the chief minister from the high-profile Nandigram seat by a slim margin.

    BJP with 75 MLAs is the main opposition in the Bengal assembly.

    Congress and the Left parties have no representation in the present house.

    This will be the first budget of the new Trinamool Congress government, which stormed back to power for the third consecutive time in the April-May elections with a massive mandate.