Congress demands Jyoti Basus resignation
West Bengal assembly yesterday plunged into unprecedented bedlam with the opposition Congress stalling proceedings over the issue of alleged illegal transaction of crores of rupees in the personal ledger account (PLA).
The Congress demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Jyoti Basu in view of Calcutta High Courts directive on Thursday to all district collectors to oversee functioning of the treasuries and make surprise inspections to ensure that treasury officers were acting within treasury rules.
They also demanded a CBI inquiry into the scandal and said they would meet West Bengal Governor K V Raghunatha Reddy to press for the probe.
Despite the chaos, state assembly speaker H A Halim conducted business.
The budget on the commerce and industry department was passed by the house within 45 minutes after it met, after normal recess, without the participation of the Congress.
When the chair refused to hear Congress MLA Pankaj Banerjee request to ask Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to make a statement on the personal ledger account issue, other Congress members jumped into the well, whistled, gesticulated at the treasury bench and beat tables with metal bins to disrupt proceedings.
Some senior Congress members like Subrata Mukherjee and former Union minister Saugata Roy shouted slogans, standing on the assembly reporters table.
Congress MLA Tapas Banerjee later rushed towards Nirmal Das of the RSP and prevented him from putting his question during the Question Hour.
In the process, a scuffle took place between the two. Ruling party members, however, maintained restraint.
Congress members Suniti Chattoraj and Sudhir Bhattacharya went out of the house to return with a curtain, which they draped over the podium in a bid to disrupt business of the house.
Tapas Banerjee then removed an indicator lamp from the well.
But an unperturbed Halim continued with the proceedings, though there were a number of absentees among the ruling party members, whose names figured in the list of speakers during the Question Hour.
The court order came in response to a public interest litigation filed by Congress MP Mamata Banerjee, who has alleged that the West Bengal government has opened the personal ledgers accounts and transferred crores of rupees in budgetary allocation to it.
The High Court on Thursday directed the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) to conduct an independent inquiry into the case and submit the report before the court.
The case has been referred to a division bench.
