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News Desk: Leader of opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should have not accepted the post of the Chief Minister on ethical grounds. He also said that as a leader of opposition he will perform my duty with all energy and enthusiasm and raise issues strongly while respecting the dignity of the assembly.
Adhikari said “The fact is she should have not accepted the post of the Chief Minister on ethical grounds. Her party may have won, but she was rejected in Nandigram. In Kerala in 1996, when the LDF (Left Democratic Front) won the elections, their Chief Ministerial face, VS Achuthanandan, lost his seat and did not take up the post of the Chief Minister”
“Compared to the other states, in West Bengal, the constitutional scope to work, and respect and recognition are not there for the LoP. I saw it when I was part of the government in the last 10 years, when the Leader of the Opposition got no respect from the TMC. But, as the LoP now, I will perform my duty with all energy and enthusiasm in order to be a constructive opposition, and raise issues strongly while respecting the dignity of the assembly. We had won 77 seats in the recent elections, and later two of our MPs who contested resigned. So we have 75 MLAs now. It is a good strength for the Opposition” he added.
When asked about the Narada case, he said “I will not speak on this matter. The matter is sub-judice and before the Lok Sabha Speaker. Regarding the timing, that is a non-issue…questions could have been raised if this action had happened during the elections, as some might have said this brought advantage to one party. Law is taking its own course”
Adhikari also took a dig at the state government regarding the post poll violence in the state. “Over 30 of our cadres were killed in post-poll violence by TMC cadres, and daily extortion and violence are still going on. Ten thousand to twelve thousand complaints have been lodged by us with the police regarding this, but there are some areas where there is no scope of even lodging a complaint. The judiciary should look at this — lots of representations have also gone to the President of India, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. The central government and the judiciary should look into this and do something. People of West Bengal had to flee due to the violence and become refugees in Assam and Jharkhand and Odisha. There is no scope of doing a movement in West Bengal as a lockdown is on, and the state government can use the law around the pandemic against us. But this law is not invoked when TMC does a big protest in Kolkata or outside the CBI office. The Chief Minister is herself staging a dharna at the CBI office. But when three BJP MLAs sat on a protest in Siliguri over rising Covid deaths, they were taken away by police within 30 minutes”
