CAA, dengue, remarks on Prez - issues that will rock winter session of Bengal Assembly

Kolkata, Nov 13 (IANS) With the winter session of West Bengal Assembly scheduled to commence from Monday, major ruckus is expected on the floor of the House over fracas between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP mainly on three major issues.

The BJP legislators under the leadership of opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari are preparing to go all out demanding a statement from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the derogatory comments made by MoS in-charge of Correctional Services Department, Akhil Giri, concerning the looks of President Droupadi Murmu.

At a rally in Nandigram on Friday, Giri had reportedly said, "We don't judge anyone by their appearance... We respect the office of the President. But how does our President look?"

After facing severe criticism from different quarters, the Trinamool Congress had on Saturday censured its leader, while Giri also apologied for his comments referring to the President.

"Despite such a derogatory statement from a minister, the Chief Minister is still silent. What does this mean? We demand immediate removal of Akhil Giri as a member of the legislative Assembly as well as a statement from the Chief Minister," Adhikari said.

The second point of fracas will be a probable motion to be brought by Trinamool Congress condemning the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the recent developments over it after the decision of the Union government to grant citizenship status to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and currently living in Gujarat's Mehsana and Anand districts.

BJP legislator Agnimitra Paul has said that as soon the motion is brought on the floor of the House, BJP legislators will oppose it as directed by the leader of the opposition.

Senior Trinamool legislator Tapas Roy said that since CAA is something which is floated by the BJP before any election, just as it has been done before next month's Assembly elections in Gujarat, Trinamool Congress has decided to oppose this drive by bringing a motion in the Assembly condemning the CAA.

"Our party's stand, as said by our leader Mamata Banerjee, is clear. We do not oppose granting citizenship. But that does not mean that it would be done isolating a particular community," he said.

The third point of fracas can be BJP trying to bring a motion condemning the state government's failure to control dengue as well the latter's reluctance to share related data with the Union Health Ministry.

Urban Development & Municipal Affairs Minister, Firhad Hakim, has claimed that BJP is unnecessarily trying to politicise the issue by spreading rumours of not sharing data with the Union government.