Kolkata, Feb 5 (IANS) In an unusual development, the treasury bench in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday moved a motion condemning the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state barely an hour before the scheduled presentation of the interim (vote-on-account) budget.

However, the Speaker of the House, Biman Bandopadhyay, disallowed any discussion on the motion as a crucial hearing in the matter is still pending at the Supreme Court. The next hearing is on February 9.

The leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, expressed dismay over the development and said that the legislative team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as the principal opposition party in West Bengal, should have been informed earlier that there would be no discussion on the motion.

“We came prepared to participate in the debate on the motion. Why were we not informed earlier that there would be no discussion on the motion?” the leader of the opposition asked.

Before the motion was moved, Governor C.V. Ananda Bose gave the customary opening speech for the budget session. However, he did not read out the full speech and left midway, keeping the address incomplete.

The leader of the opposition defended the Governor and said that he did the right thing by not reading out the full speech. “The speech was drafted by the state government, and it was full of lies. So the Governor had done the right thing by not reading out the entire speech,” Adhikari said.

The leader of the opposition also objected to the time allotted to him for speaking on the Governor’s address. After the Speaker informed that one hour had been allotted for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and only 10 minutes for the leader of the opposition, Adhikari registered his objections.

“It would have been better if you had not allotted any time for me,” the leader of the opposition told the Speaker of the House.

–IANS

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