After being rejected by people, BJP staging drama now: Mamata

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the BJP for the unprecedented ruckus at the state Assembly terming it as a "planned attempt" to create a Constitutional crisis. She also did not rule out pressure on the part of Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in delivering his address at the commencement of the first Assembly session for the year 2022.

"What BJP has done is a shame in democracy. This is not the way to show protest. They tried to stop the Governor from delivering his address. They were trying to stage a drama after being defeated convincingly in the elections. They are not ashamed of their defeat. If the Governor would have left the House without reading the address it would have led to a constitutional crisis. We waited for an hour and when the Governor was preparing to leave the House, without delivering the speech our MLAs requested him again and again to read it. Then he (Governor) urged me to persuade everyone to take their seats, which I did and IO urged him to read at least the opening and ending line of the speech, which he did," Banerjee said. After Dhankhar left the Assembly with Banerjee and Speaker Biman Banerjee accompanying him to his car Banerjee said: "It seemed that he was not willing to deliver the speech. Maybe there was pressure on him. I am not aware."

Banerjee further reiterated that she has been pained by such an incident. "They are trying to stop an elected government from executing its work in a proper manner which is not at all pleasant in a democracy," Banerjee added.

The chief minister, however, thanked the Governor and also visited Raj Bhawan and met Dhankhar.

Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee hit out at the Governor for remaining silent during the ruckus created by the BJP legislators. "He (the Governor) told our MLAs to walk out of the Assembly. I felt the BJP president was sitting on Governor's chair," Chatterjee said.

As soon as the Governor entered the House to deliver his address the BJP MLAs raised slogans. The impasse continued for over an hour with the Governor refusing to begin his address amid the din and tried to leave the House.

The BJP MLAs descended to the well of the House, held up posters and raised slogans alleging violence in the recently-concluded civic polls.

Speaker Biman Banerjee and the chief minister urged the Governor to go ahead with the speech but he didn't.

Chatterjee also ruled out allegations of the BJP that TMC MLAs had manhandled the Governor. "We have much more representation in the Assembly than the BJP but our MLAs maintained the sanctity and decorum of the house and acted in a democratic manner," Chatterjee said.