Congress, Left MLAs stage protest

Protesting against the alleged assault on the Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan, Congress and Left MLAs will boycott the Budget and hold a mock session tomorrow, even as they jointly protested outside the Assembly premises today.
"We have boycotted the house today and will continue with our boycott tomorrow. We along with Left MLAs will place our own budget tomorrow," Congress MLA Manoj Chakraborty said.
During the day, Congress activists staged protest rallies in various parts of the state. A road blockade was held and protest rally taken out by youth Congress activists in Kolkata's Esplande area.
The Left Front organised a protest rally in Esplande area in central Kolkata to protest against the alleged assault on Mannan.

Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Abdul Mannan was yesterday hospitalised after he had taken ill while being evicted by the marshall from the House which witnessed noisy scenes and a scuffle between Congress MLAs and the security staff.
Mannan was suspended by Speaker Biman Banerjee as he continued his protest with placards against the government for bringing West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and termed it as "black law" while refusing to heed to the Speaker who asked him to wait for discussions on it.

The Speaker then asked Mannan, the Congress MLA from Champdani, to withdraw for the day but he remained defiant and was suspended.

As soon as he was suspended, Mannan sat in the Well of the House and the marshalls tried to forcibly evict him, leading to a scuffle between them and Congress members.
(REOP CAL3)
Governor K N Tripathi, meanwhile described yesterday's incident in the assembly as "unfortunate".
(REOP CES12)
State Youth Congress president Arindam Bhattacharya said "We will continue our protests. This is just a beginning. The TMC is trying to wipe out every sign of democratic protest through this bill."
Several Youth Congress and Congress activists were detained by the police during the day in various parts of the state.