Mamata Banerjee said that shots were fired at her during last year's Assembly election campaign in Nandigram, the startling claim made in the Assembly in a speech she rescheduled to Wednesday, prompting leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari to counter that the chief minister was scared about the prospect of the BJP's return to power in Uttar Pradesh.
“I was not allowed to campaign. Shots were fired at me. There was a conspiracy. Some people had worked in tandem to have me defeated,” Mamata said without providing any details in her speech in the Assembly which she delivered before that of the leader of the Opposition in a break from convention.
Mamata was injured during the campaign in Nandigram when the door of her SUV slammed on her foot while she was getting in the car because of a sudden rush of people. A portion of her leg had to be plastered, but she continued her campaign on a wheelchair in the coming days.
Suvendu addressed a press conference later in the day on Wednesday and said, "Tomorrow, when the results are declared, she won’t be able to look into the eyes of any of the BJP MLAs sitting in the Assembly. That is why she spoke today for 50 minutes, without allowing anyone else to speak.”
In the tentative business of the House released on Monday, it was mentioned that the discussion on the reply to the Governor’s address would be split to two sessions of two-and-half hours each over Wednesday and Thursday. By convention, the chief minister, as the leader of the House, is expected to reply immediately after the leader of the Opposition, the penultimate speaker on the last day, which in this case would have happened on Thursday, the day election results of five states, including the largest state Uttar Pradesh and the smallest Goa, would be declared.
Late on Tuesday evening, lawmakers were informed that Mamata would deliver her reply on Wednesday, instead of Thursday. “Fact is that she lost in Nandigram and has not been able to overcome that shock yet,” Suvendu added.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was not allowed to read his speech on the opening day of the Budget session of the Assembly on Monday with BJP MLAs heckling him with slogans. In the end he barely managed to read the first and last lines of the speech which was then deemed to have been read in the House.
The impact of that day’s ruckus was felt on Wednesday when Speaker Biman Banerjee suspended two BJP lawmakers - Mihir Goswami (Natabari in Cooch Behar) and Sudip Mukhopadhyay (Purulia) - after minister-in-charge of parliamentary affairs Partha Chatterjee brought a motion which was passed by vote.
In the second half of the session when the chief minister joined the proceedings to give her reply, the remaining BJP lawmakers raised slogans against the suspension of their colleagues.
After the chief minister’s reply, which went on for 50 minutes, BJP legislators, who were shouting throughout the time she spoke, walked out of the House. “Our suspended colleagues will be on a dharna at the lobby and we will continue to raise the demand to withdraw their suspension daily before the Speaker,” said Suvendu.
Earlier, Suvendu had appealed to the Speaker in the House to withdraw the suspensions, to which, he was directed to submit a letter. “What I told the Speaker is on record, still he asked me to submit a letter,” said Suvendu.
CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty asked why the Speaker had singled out two BJP MLAs, who were once with Trinamul, for punishment. “What happened on Monday was dangerous. Both sides appeared to have lost their senses. But why were only two MLAs suspended? Why have the others been spared? Did the CM inspire two former Trinamul-turned-BJP MLAs to create a ruckus?” asked Chakraborty.
