A bitter war of words between Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and chief minister Mamata Banerjee followed by BJP MLAs staging a walkout for the second consecutive day marked a turbulent day 4 of the monsoon session of the Bengal Assembly on Thursday.

A Mamata Banerjee jibe on the disputed Nandigram counting for the 2021 state polls which propelled Adhikari to a victory against the chief minister by a slender margin of 1956 votes was all it took for the BJP raise a ruckus on the Assembly floor and stage a walkout while chanting “shame shame” slogan against Banerjee and sporting of black flags in the premises portico where the protest demonstration continued.

“Did you forget what happened when power was disconnected for two hours during the Nandigram counting,” the chief minister snapped on the Assembly floor, obliquely referring to Adhikari, before the BJP took objection to her statement.

Adhikari, who spoke on the floor right before Banerjee alleged that the ruling Trinamul Congress has staged a “three-tier loot” in the recently concluded rural polls. “Blockades were set up in at least 25 blocks and opposition candidates were stopped from filing nominations,” the BJP leader stated and alleged, referring to the hurriedly declared polls by the state election commissioner on the same day he assumed his chair, “the polls were declared and held surreptitiously”.

“In 2024, people will repay you with interest on what you did in the panchayat elections this year,” Adhikari remarked, referring to Trinamul’s performance in the 2008 rural polls where it swept seats in South 24 Parganas district without having much grassroots organisation strength.

Both leaders were participating in a discussion in the House on “violence in panchayat polls”, a motion moved by the BJP.

Led by MLA Agnimitra Paul, the BJP had walked out of the House on Wednesday over the issue of “atrocities on women” in the state in the wake of the rural elections. The BJP legislative party had demanded to move an adjournment motion and discuss the recent incident of sexual assault and subsequent police action in Malda which was turned down by Speaker Biman Banerjee.

Refuting Adhikari’s claims, Banerjee placed on record that “violence was reported from only seven pockets of the state” while the opposition kept crying foul about political strife across all 22 districts.

“The previous speaker, who was in Trinamul before, laid down some figures but never spoke about the poll atrocities committed during the previous Left regime,” the chief minister said referring to Adhikari and placed death toll figures from pre-2011 elections. “A record number of nearly 2.32 lakh nominations were submitted in the rural elections this year of which the BJP filed close to 55,000 nominations. This year the polls witnessed 87 percent nominations compared to 65 percent in the previous occasion,” Banerjee stated.

“The Trinamul won 7855 panchyat samiti seats and the BJP won 1074. In Zilla Parishad the Trinamul won 879 seats, BJP 31, Congress 14. Id votes were looted, how did the opposition win so many seats? We were rewarded by the people for the development programmes we were able to implement,” she argued.

“A narrative is being floated that Bengal is a hub of violence. Either there is something wrong with their heads or the attempt is to please the Centre. The BJP relies on fake news and fake videos,” Banerjee’s salvo at the BJP and Adhikari in particular continued. “People who consider themselves big leaders have lost miserably in their own districts. In Nandigram itself the defeat margin is over 10,000 votes. I don’t want to name anyone because I feel ashamed to take such names.”

The chief minister took the opportunity to mention the ethnic strife in Manipur and targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Why are you so afraid of Manipur? Instead of sending teams here and there, visit Manipur. You keep accepting gifts in return for money while Manipur and Mizoram burn,” she said.

The state government has already announced its plans to table a motion against Manipur violence in the Assembly on July 31.