Opposition Congress, Left Front to boycott Assembly session

Kolkata: The Congress and Left Front MLAs have decided to boycott the ongoing Assembly session till May 29 following the Speaker Biman Banerjee refused to allow No-confidence Motion against the Trinamul government on Wednesday, alleging rigging in the civic polls and attack on Left supporters by the police during their “Nabanna Abhijan” on Monday.

The Opposition members will instead hold a mock Assembly session at the gate on Friday and would stage a sit in demonstration. Leader of the Opposition Abdul Mannan, along with 13 others, had appealed for the Speaker’s consent for a No-confidence Motion. However, Mr Banerjee said, “Such a motion needs to be discussed within 10 days after being placed. The session is concluding on May 29 and there are scheduled important businesses till then. So, it will not be possible to hold discussions on the motion.” He also added that a similar No-confidence Motion was brought by the Opposi-tion in December 2016, barely six months back.

Mr Mannan, however, retorted and said that rules do not bar an Opposition party to move a No-confidence Motion against the ruling party within six months. However, the Speaker persisted with his stand pointing out lack of time.

The Opposition members rushed to the Well of the House and raised slogans, tearing pages in protest and staged a walkout.

Later, Mr Mannan and Left Front legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty held a joint press conference to announce their decision to boycott the proceedings of the ongoing session. “The government is afraid of us though we have much less legislators in comparison to them. This shows that the government lacks power to condemn our allegations,” Mr Mannan said.