Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today told the Assembly that she would be present in the House whenever she wanted to and said there was nothing she could do if the Opposition had no questions for her departments, after a walkout by opposition Left Front members.
When the Speaker was about to adjourn the House for recess regretting the walkout by LF members demanding the CM's presence, Banerjee rose to say “If there are no questions, why should I come?
“I will come whenever I want to. I give most time to the Honourable House. If there is no subject, what should I do by coming here,” she said.
“There was only one question on land which is subjudice and they were informed of it,” the chief minister said. Speaker Biman Banerjee regretted the walkout by the Left members at the beginning of Question Hour when the House sat for the day, saying that they should be more patient.
“It is a matter of immense regret that the Opposition members resorted to a walkout in the morning, even as the Chief Minister has come to House,” the Speaker said. He said that the chief minister has been present in the House on several days during the session.
While the Left Front members walked out of the House demanding the chief minister's presence, the Congress members also did so when an adjournment motion brought by them was not allowed.
Immediately after the House started business for the day at 11.00 am, Left members came down to the Well of the House and shouted slogans demanding the chief minister's presence in the Assembly.
They walked out of the House at 11.08 and said that they would boycott it for the day, alleging that the chief minister was hardly present in the House.
As the Question Hour was proceeding, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee entered the House at 11.50 am.
Following the end of the Question Hour, the Congress brought an adjournment motion claiming police atrocities on students at the Baharampur College yesterday. The Speaker disallowed the motion, but allowed it to be read out in the House.
Congress member Manoj Chakraborti read out the motion and demanded a discussion.
As the Speaker refused, the Congress members walked out of the House in protest.
