West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay has accepted a privilege motion against Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Such a motion against the Opposition leader is unheard of in the recent history of Bengal's legislative assembly, particularly the acceptance of it.
Usually, the Speaker goes through requests of the people who move the privilege motion and hear both sides before taking a final decision whether to accept it. But in Adhikari’s case, such a procedure was not followed.
Four MLAs who had won on BJP tickets but later defected to the Trinamool Congress have alleged that Adhikari threatened them of income tax raids by Union government in the floor of the House. Ruckus was created in the assembly during the budget debate when four turncoat MLAs allegedly abused Adhikari.
The four MLAs are not officially TMC MLAs yet but of BJP as they did not come to the house by winning as TMC members. Also, the moment they move against BJP whip in the assembly, they could no longer be MLAs. So, the question remains whether the four MLAs who have moved the privilege motion are bonafide or not.
Secondly, if Adhikari had made such a statement, then the Speaker would have expunged the remark from the proceedings. In that case, such a motion would not have been in place. But Speaker Bandyopadhyay seems to have allowed Adhikari’s statement to be recorded.
If the motion is accepted, Adhikari might face punishment that ranges from rebuttal to even suspension for a period. "However, Speaker might ask him to tender apology if the remark is uncalled for. But the best action from the Speaker would have been to expunge Adhikari’s statement," said a former chief whip of Congress in Bengal assembly.
