Privilege motion against BJP's Adhikari for remarks on Bengal Speaker

A privilege motion was on Friday moved against Suvendu Adhikari for his "disrespectful" remarks against Speaker Biman Banerjee after the Nandigram legislator's suspension in the House was revoked.

A privilege motion was on Friday moved against Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari for his "disrespectful" remarks against West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, a day the Nandigram legislator's suspension in the House was revoked.

Banerjee on Thursday withdrew the suspension order he had issued against seven BJP MLAs, including Adhikari.

TMC MLA Partha Bhowmick moved the motion against Adhikari, after the BJP legislator, while airing his views on MLA Mukul Roy's disqualification case, apparently made a disparaging remark against the speaker.

Earlier this month, Banerjee had rejected a plea by Adhikari to disqualify Roy, saying that he did not find merit in the argument of the petitioner.

The speaker, during the day, accepted the motion and referred it to the Privilege Committee, which has been asked to look into it and submit a report at the earliest.

"The nature of the comments made by Adhikari is not only disrespectful but also an insult to the chair. That is why I had moved the Privilege Motion. I hope appropriate action would be taken against him, Bhowmick told reporters.

Reacting to the development, chief whip of BJP legislative party, Manoj Tigga, said this is an attempt to "stifle the voice of opposition".

"The politically motivated allegations are being made to stop the BJP and Suvendu Adhikari from raising the people's issues in the Assembly," Tigga claimed.

Clashes had broken out in the House on March 28 between legislators of the ruling TMC and BJP, following which the speaker had suspended Adhikari, Tigga and three other MLAs.

Earlier in March, BJP legislators Mihir Goswami and Sudip Mukhopadhyay were suspended over their conduct during governor's address in the House.