BJP to move adjournment motions in Bengal Assembly against rural poll violence, TMC hits back

The BJP Tuesday said it will move two adjournment motions in West Bengal Assembly this week demanding immediate discussion on alleged violence during the rural poll and alleged atrocities against women in the state.

The ruling TMC hit back terming the saffron party's allegations "a pack of lies" and claiming that it is trying to make the situation in the state restive.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari (BJP) told reporters outside the Assembly hall on Tuesday that the party expects Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay will allow the two motions so that the reported violence and rigging by the ruling TMC in the panchayat election held earlier this month is brought to the fore through debates.

It will also highlight how the administration worked in favour of one side and is officially put under scanner before the legislative assembly, he said.

The other adjournment motion will be moved on the alleged atrocities against women in different parts of the state, particularly in the light of the stripping of two tribal women in Malda and the disrobing and parading of one BJP gram sabha candidate at Panchla in Howrah district on the rural poll date on July 8, he said.

As the House was adjourned on Tuesday following the death of BJP MLA Bishanu Pada Roy and the notice for the two motions could not be given, BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh told PTI.

"We will give the notice for both motions by this week so that it can be taken up at the earliest. Both issues are grave," he said.

To the question about TMC's decision to table an adjournment motion about Manipur violence, Adhikari said "We will oppose it and seek the quashing of the motion as the issue is being handled by Supreme Court".

The speaker, he said, had turned down the saffron party's plea on the same ground earlier when it wanted to table an adjournment motion on the teacher recruitment scam. "There should not be two yardsticks," he asserted.

Asked to comment, TMC deputy chief whip Tapas Roy told reporters that BJP can table any motion but it will have to abide by the proper technical procedure. It will have to move the motion through the relevant House committee, which it did not.

BJP did not attend the all party meeting convened by the speaker on Monday, the first day of the monsoon session, to discuss legislative affairs during the ongoing session of the House.

"It will be the prerogative of the Speaker to take a call on the matter. But BJP's twin allegations are a pack of lies as it has been inciting violence in the state since the 2019 Lok Sabha poll and trying to make the quiet scenario in Bengal restive," Roy said.

On BJP's stand on the Manipur issue, Roy said everyone is aware of what happened in the northeastern state. "The extent and enormity of the happenings in Manipur has shaken the nation's conscience. It has been unheard of post Independence. BJP leaders should also feel aggrieved and devastated if they truly love the country and not be in the denial mode.

"Also the entire opposition is united in both Houses of Parliament on the Manipur issue. So the BJP leader's point on our decision about the adjournment motion on Manipur does not hold ground," he added.