Kolkata, Feb 3 (IANS) A political slugfest surfaced in West Bengal over the omission of the names of victims of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as well as the victims of the Anandapur warehouse fire mishap on the southern outskirts of Kolkata in the list of obituary mentions on the first day of the budget session of the Assembly on Tuesday.

As per protocol, on the first day, the House was adjourned after the obituary mention.

However, after the House was adjourned, the Chief Whip of Bharatiya Janata Party’s legislative party in the state Assembly, Shankar Ghosh, attacked the treasury bench on why the names of victims of SIR and Anandapur warehouse fire were missing in the obituary mentions list.

“On one hand, Trinamool Congress leaders, including the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, are constantly accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of being responsible for so many deaths because of the revision exercise. She had even gone up to New Delhi to stage protests on this issue. However, the treasury bench does not have the guts to officially record their claims by including the victims allegedly due to SIR in the obituary mention lists. This shows the dichotomy of the ruling party of the state,” Ghosh said.

However, Trinamool Congress’s Chief Whip in the West Bengal Assembly, Nirmal Ghosh, said that since the special motion will be moved in the House during the budget session, condemning the SIR exercise and detailed discussion will be done in the matter, the names of the SIR victims had not been included in the obituary mention list. “There is no question of avoiding the tragedy by us,” Ghosh added.

On the Anandapur warehouse fire mishap, BJP’s Chief Whip claimed that the omission of the names of the victims in the obituary mention list shows yet another dichotomy within the party of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

“Trinamool Congress leaders are always vocal about the unfortunate deaths of the migrant workers from West Bengal in other states. But they are so reluctant about the unfortunate deaths of so many workers from the state in the Anandapur fire mishap,” he said.

However, Trinamool Congress’s Chief Whip claimed that since the final death figure in the tragedy is yet to come, the names of the victims have not been included in the obituary mention list.

–IANS

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