TMC targets BJP

With the BJP seeking to corner Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Parliament, the Mamata Banerjee-led party on Tuesday said it will not allow the ruling party to rewrite Parliamentary rules to fulfil its "pipe-dream of 2021" when Assembly elections are held in West Bengal.

TMC leaders claimed the BJP MPs are allowed to raise law and order issues in Parliament against convention.

"The TMC will not allow Parliamentary rules to be rewritten to fulfil BJP's pipe dream of 2021," Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien said.

On Tuesday, BJP and TMC MPs locked horns in Lok Sabha after Dilip Ghosh, BJP West Bengal chief and MP, alleged a conspiracy by the West Bengal government in a violent attack and criminal cases against his party members.

O'Brien accused the government of rushing through Bills in Rajya Sabha as it sought to pass The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Bill, 2019 on Tuesday, a day after it was passed in the Lok Sabha.

He said, "In Parliament, this is a trainee government. They do not know how the Parliament runs. At 3 pm today, they gave a supplementary list of business about passing The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Bill. What of my right as a member to bring an amendment?"

In Rajya Sabha, Elamaram Kareem, the CPM MP, raised a point of order at the introduction of the Bill and said the government should give a copy of the bill a day before to MPs, who are willing to move an amendment.

"Here the bill comes in the afternoon, we are getting the supplementary list of business in the afternoon. I have not received the bill prior so that to give the amendment. So it is not in order to present the bill in the House," he said.

While Deputy Chairman Harivansh said the rule has been waived off in this case, both CPI and CPM MPs staged a walkout in protest. Later, Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu extended the debate on the bill till Wednesday before adjourning the House.