BJP hits out at West Bengal CM Mamata over pandemonium in state Assembly, demands her resignation

New Delhi, Sep 4 (PTI) The BJP slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday over pandemonium in the state Assembly and demanded her resignation, alleging that she abused Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the floor of the House.

High drama unfolded in the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday, as the MLAs of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and opposition BJP were engaged in heated verbal exchanges, bringing the House proceedings to a near standstill and leading to the suspension of five legislators of the saffron party.

"The BJP is a 'vote chor'. It has stolen people's mandate to win elections," Banerjee charged in her address in the Assembly.

As chaos gripped the House amid walkouts and marshals dragging out MLAs, slogans like "vote chor BJP" and "chakri chor (job thief) TMC" reverberated inside the Assembly.

Reacting sharply, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia condemned Banerjee. Terming the chief minister's remarks "indecent and undignified", he demanded her resignation.

"One word is used repeatedly in slogans -- 'chori' (theft).... She (Banerjee) raises such slogans for someone who is as pure as the Ganga water and has been made the pradhan sevak (prime minister) by the people of the country.... She is using abusive language for our Home Minister (Amit Shah)," Bhatia told a press conference at the BJP office here.

He alleged that "goondagardi and jungle raj" are prevailing in West Bengal under the TMC's rule and said Banerjee does not deserve to occupy the top post in the state.

"She should immediately resign," he said.

Slamming the TMC supremo over the pandemonium in the Assembly, Bhatia alleged that BJP MLAs were "beaten and injured" by the marshals at the behest of the ruling party.

"This is the same 'ghamandia thagbandhan' that had protested against the presence of marshals in Parliament, whereas in the West Bengal Assembly, they are instructing the marshals to beat up opposition members," he charged.

Bhatia also targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, alleging that Banerjee is carrying forward the use of "indecent language" that the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha started to attack the prime minister.

"He got his party leaders to use expletives for the prime minister's mother (in poll-bound Bihar). Now, Mamata Banerjee, after learning from scamster Gandhi, is carrying forward that anarchy and indecency in West Bengal," the BJP leader said, alleging that the people of the state have witnessed "chori" in teachers' recruitment and ration for the common man. PTI PK RC