Privilege motion against Bengal's leader of opposition

A treasury bench member in West Bengal assembly Thursday served a privilege notice against Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra related to the protests in the house by Left Front legislators on Wednesday.

The Left Front lawmakers had protested after alleging that the format of a question by Mishra on the naming of a sprawling township after former chief minister Jyoti Basu was "arbitrarily changed".

The LF members, led by Mishra, tore papers, displayed posters against the government move to withdraw a legislation naming New Town as Jyoti Basu Nagar, and gathered near the speaker's podium, raising slogans.

Later, they boycotted the house proceedings for the rest of the day.

Speaker Biman Banerjee acknowledged the notice and said he would give his ruling later after looking into it.

Denying any breach of privilege on his part, Mishra countered that it was Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim who had been guilty of such an irregularity.

Mishra had Wednesday accused Hakim of uttering an untruth by saying that Governor M.K. Narayanan returned the Bill without giving his assent. On the contrary, Narayanan told the LF lawmakers Tuesday that he was unaware of it.

"We do not attend Assembly to remain seated keeping our mouth sealed. The more the government wants to suppress our voice by bringing privilege and passing such resolutions, our voices of protests will only grow louder," he said.