Union leader creates a flutter at labour conference

The inaugural session of Indian labour conference here was briefly disrupted by a union leader who demanded a "reply" from the Prime Minister on the alleged inaction of Assam government despite promising a CBI probe into the killing of his colleague there in March.
The incident occurred in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when Subhas Sen, a secretary of the Assam unit of All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), interrupted Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge's speech to lodge his protest.
The disruption caught everyone by surprise as Kharge tried his best to stop the union leader. The Minister had just begun to deliver his address when Sen sprang up from his seat at the Vigyan Bhawan here condemning the "assassination" of the worker.

Sen said AICCTU leader Gangaram Koul was fighting for the tea garden workers' movement in Assam and was allegedly killed by "Congress goons" on March 25.
"There was a state wide bandh following the incident and on April 1, the state chief minister promised a CBI probe in the state Assembly. But it is now more than one-and-half months and the CM has not found time to send a formal letter to the investigation agency," he claimed.
As he was speaking, the Minister chose to go ahead with his speech. The episode lasted a couple of minutes before Sen took his seat. The PM spoke later on.

According to the organisers, the unions have enough opportunities to place their views in the conference spread over two days and Sen should have followed the practice.
"However, he chose to spoke at the inaugural function, which was unbecoming of him," they said.