Mamata taking West Bengal towards a dangerous situation: Buddhadeb

THE HINDU, Published: December 18, 2011 23:16 IST | Updated: December 19, 2011 01:56 IST 

KRISHNANAGAR: The Trinamool Congress-led government is taking West Bengal towards a dangerous situation, said the former Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, here on Sunday. He said, The ruling party was as confused as were the policies of the State government. This would spell disaster, if not resisted.

He was speaking at a rally on the occasion of the district conference of the CPI(M) at Krishnanagar in Nadia district.

In a scathing attack on the Mamata Banerjee government's handling of the incident resulting in the police firing at Magrahat in South 24 Parganas district, the devastating fire at the AMRI Hospitals, Dhakuria, and the hooch tragedy at Sangrampur, Mr. Bhattacharjee said that each day there was a new law and order problem.

Referring to the liquor tragedy, he said: “It is only because of the lack of proper treatment that so many people died. Had there been timely treatment many lives could have been saved … There were neither the required number of doctors nor medicines and the administration had even failed to arrange for ambulances to bring the sick to the hospital.”

He was also critical of the State government in its handling the situation in the Darjeeling hills and in the Maoist-affected Jangalmahal region. He alleged that the government had further complicated matters in Darjeeling, where it had given leeway to divisive forces and precipitated the situation where unrest could erupt anytime now. The Trinamool government had failed to set its priorities right in Jangalmahal, where it was taking on the CPI(M) instead of Maoists.

 Happenings in CPI(M)

But Mr. Bhattacharjee, a member of the CPI (M) Polit Bureau, was also unsparing about the goings-on in certain sections within his own party.

“There have been some incidents of high-handedness within the party for which we have been punished by the people,” he said referring to the defeat of the Left Front in the April-May Assembly elections.

“The wrong-doings will have to be eliminated and the party will have to resume its position as the one which the people want,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said, adding there was no recourse but moving forward.

He came down strongly on the Union government for its economic policies which had resulted in spiralling prices of essential commodities.

If the Centre continued to de-control the price of petrol, not provide subsidies to bring down the prices of essential items and merely go by the diktats of the World Bank, “only those with money will survive, those without will not.” Claiming that the ground beneath the Manmohan Singh government was shaky, he ridiculed the Trinamool for its superficial opposition to matters like the rise in fuel prices though it continued to be part of the same government.

Left Front accuses TMC Govt of violating norms

Kolkata, 16 Dec, 2011: West Bengal's Opposition Left Front today accused the Trinamool Congress government of violating constitutional and legislative norms and requested Governor MK Narayanan to withhold his consent on the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill.

"Several amendments to various clauses of the The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill 2011 were submitted by the opposition for consideration of the house. During debate on her deliberation in the house, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee agreed with the amendment no 1, 5, and 14 moved by the opposition," a letter from the Left Front to the governor stated.

"Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee mentioned acceptance of the same, when the bill was placed in the house. During clause wise consideration, two of our amendments - number 5 in clause 5 and number 11 in the clause 25 - were passed by a voice vote and the speakers declared the amendments as part of the bill.

Opposition Left Front today urged Governor to withhold his consent to Gorkhaland Territorial Adminsitration (GTA) Bill, 2011. The LF in a memorandum to the governor said a portion of amendments of the bill passed in the Assembly was omitted in the Bill and the provision of Zila Parishad was inserted in it. The memorandum said. ''The manner in which the portion of amendments in the bill was passed in the House was omitted and the provision of Zila Parishad inserted is a serious breach of the provisions of the Constitution and tantamounts to breach of privilege of the members,'' it said. Alleging that there was 'a serious breach' of the provisions of Constitution, an 8-member Front delegation, led by Leader of the Opposition Suryakanta Mishra, submitted to the governor the memorandum requesting him to withhold his consent to the Bill for such time as may be required for proper rectification of the same.

Chatterjee moved the The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Bill, 2011 as settled in the assembly be passed and the speaker "announced that the bill as amended and settled is passed", the missive said. "Unfortunately, after going through a copy of the amended bill as settled, we notice that the aforesaid amendment number 5 moved by the leader of the opposition to clause 5 has been omitted," the letter said.

The LF delegation also drew Narayanan's attention to The LF delegation also drew Narayanan's attention to the West Bengal State Health Service (Amendment) Bill, placed in the House on December 14. ''It has come to our notice that an ordinance on the same issue was signed by you and promulgated on May 27, 2011. It is obligatory to lay the ordinance in the House in the next session of the House. ''After May 27, there were two sessions of the House, but the Ordinance was not laid. The Government has kept us in the dark,'' the memorandum said adding it was a gross violation of the Article 213(2)(a) of Constitution.

They delegates urged the governor to look into the allegations and take corrective measures to protect rights of the opposition. The Front delegation members included Subhas Naskar (RSP), Anandamoy Mondal (CPI), Paresh Adhikary (Forward Bloc), Biswanath Karak (Opposition chief whip), Probodh Sinha (DSP), Chand Mohammad (Samajwadi Party) and Anisur Rehman (CPI-M).