)
Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Surjya Kanta Mishra today threatened to boycott Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the House if she continued to avoid the question hour, like she did in the past.
Mishra demanded that the chief minister be present in the Assembly tomorrow to reply their questions.
"If the chief minister continues to avoid the question hour allotted to her, we will boycott her when she gives any statement in the House," Mishra said here today, asking her to change her attitude.
He also demanded that February 17 should be entirely kept for the presentation of the budget and discussion on it and said they would boycott her when she gave reply on the Governor's speech on that day before the presentation of the budget.
Accusing Banerjee of deliberately avoiding the question hour, Mishra said that the Opposition members felt deprived of their rights to get information directly from the chief minister.
"In her (Mamata Banerjee) 32 months of rule, I have asked her 64 questions, but received answer to only one and that was on the condition of the NH-34," Mishra said.
The Business Advisory Committee, meanwhile, in a meeting here has decided that the chief minister would not be present in the House tomorrow, the day scheduled for the question-answer session, because of her preoccupation.
Mishra said that such an 'excuse' was nothing new, as the chief minister always maintained this practice to avoid questions by Opposition members.
"The chief minister is holding eight departments, but in the last two and a half years she hardly replied to questions put by Oppositionmembers," Mishra regretted.
