Congress stages walkout, accuses covert Left-TMC pact

Kolkata: Accusing that there was a ’tacit understanding’ between Left and ruling Trinammol Congress on the floor of the assembly, the Congress Legislature Party today staged a walkout from the assembly after their no-confidence motion was not allowed to be moved and was sent as pending by Speaker Biman Banerjee. The charge has been denied by the Left.[caption id=“attachment_1796237” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Angry in West Bengal. Reuters[/caption] “What happened at the floor of the assembly is unprecedented. We had moved the no-confidence as per the rule. But the Left’s no-confidence motion was allowed and our’s was sent as pending. This is nothing but a brewing love affair between TMC and the Left,” senior Congress leader Manas Bhunia said. Congress’ no-confidence was sent as pending to shield five of its members, who had recently switched to TMC, from anti-defection laws. “If we had been allowed to pass the no-confidence then we would have issued a whip and every Congress MLA would be forced to adhere to it or face anti-defection,” Bhunia said. BJP’s lone MLA Shamik Bhattacharya echoing him alleged a tacit understanding between Congress and Trinamool in order to save the Trinamool regime. It was known that Congress would pass the no-confidence motion, he said adding “During the all party meeting the Left did not talk about it,” he said. Congress MLAs led by Bhunia and CLP leader Mohammed Sohrab staged a walkout for the day from the house. Defending the speaker’s decision to accept the no-confidence motion of the Left, Leader of Opposition and senior CPI-leader Surya Kanta Mishra said it was moved before Congress moved theirs. “The allegations of understanding with Trinamool are completely baseless. The people of Bengal know which party had understanding with Trinamool,” he said. PTI