West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay on Monday debarred four BJP MLAs from taking part in the Mention Hour for the rest of the winter session till November 30, triggering charges of "vindictive action" by the opposition party.
Bandyopadhyay said that the action was taken as the four BJP legislators did not respond when their names were called out for making their point during the Mention Hour, in an apparent disregard to the procedure.
The Speaker, however, allowed them to attend the House and participate in all other events.
The four MLAs -- Gopal Saha, Hiranmoy Chatterjee, Nikhil Ranjan Dey, and Partha Sarathi Chattopadhyay – were protesting the Speaker's refusal to table the adjournment motion moved by the BJP on the school jobs scam during the end of the first half of the session and walked out even as Bandyopadhyay called out their names as already listed by the party.
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They, however, would not be prevented from taking part in the debate, and voting and would continue to have other rights they are entitled to.
BJP chief whip Manoj Tigga decried the ruling as "vindictive" and said the party MLAs would protest against it during Tuesday's session.
"It appears the state government does not believe in granting space to the Opposition, which is of paramount importance in a parliamentary democracy. The ruling dispensation had in the past suspended our MLAs, including me, for raising people's demands in the House. What else can one expect from such an autocratic regime?" Tigga said.
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He said that as the BJP chief whip, he is, however, yet to receive the official communique in this regard.
