Trinamool MLAs face Speaker's ire for absence during question hour

Kolkata: Three legislators of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal faced the ire of Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay on Wednesday for remaining absent during the question hour, including the period when they were scheduled to raise questions on the floor of the House.

The problem aggravated as even the chief whip of the ruling party in the Assembly, Nirmal Ghosh, was not present in the House at that point of time.

“What a skeleton presence. I will especially tell the members of the treasury bench that this is not done. Why should such things happen? This is most unfortunate,” the Speaker was heard saying.

The three Trinamool MLAs in question are Debes Mondal, Apurba Sarkar and Rafikul Islamd Mondal.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier issued a strong note of caution about adequate presence of party legislators during the ongoing winter session of the Assembly.

Even two separate attendance registrars were introduced, one for the members of the state Cabinet and the other for the other ruling party legislators.

However, state minister Firhad Hakim had expressed dissatisfaction over the introduction of attendance registrars, saying that such things are applicable for 'school kids'.