Congress motions in Bengal go waste

What, however, proved more frustrating than the inevitable outcome for the CLP leaders was that the entire debate gave the LF members opportunity to expose the organisational weakness of the State Congress.

In the debate during the privilege motion moved against the Chief Minister Jyoti Basu for his accusing the senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee "of purchasing vote for his election to Rajya Sabha in ’93," Basu using the occasion to smite down the Congress, said the party "had lost its image before the people".

As evident from facts, he said the party leaders indulged "in horse-trading" and blotched up the "great prestige which was once associated with it". The motion was rejected by the West Bengal Assembly Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim.

The motion, which was moved by the Congress MLA and Trinamul Congress Committee leader Sudeep Bandhopadhya against Basu, accused the Chief Minister of contempt of House. Unfazed, Basu said if the ballot box was allowed to be reopened, he was sure that "his allegation would turn out to be true".

Later, the Assembly Speaker rejected the motion saying that since Mukherjee was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1993 during the tenure of the previous House, Basu’s statement on the issue could not be considered as contempt of House.

The Congress sponsored no-confidence motion which lost by a voice vote later, however gave another opportunity to the LF leaders, chiefly Basu, to attack the party and he made his points notwithstanding the pandemonium, the speeches during the debate stirred up. During the debate on the no-confidence motion, which witnessed noisy scenes on several occasions and a walkout by the Congress members, Basu said: "The Congress party has become the fountainhead of the corruption." What appeared to have stung the Congress Legislature Party leaders more than anything else was Basu’s reference to Gandhiji’s advice that "after Independence party should be converted into a seva prathistan".

The motion was moved by the Congress on overall failure of the State Government for the last 20 years, including the "abysmal failure of the administration to arrest the outbreak of malaria and deteriorating law and order situation in the State". The Congress members, while speaking on "total failure of the government on industrial front" leading to alarming rise in the unemployment, accused the State Government of "bungling the Central Government’s development funds".

The CLP leaders also charged the LF with trying to fudge the actual figure of the death toll in the recent malaria cases. Denying the charge, Basu said it was a plot to bring disrepute to his government trying its best to fight the malaria outbreak.

Basu, who also spoke to the reporters after the adjournment of the House, said the Congress did not want to go for an election which seems to be the only way to end the present political crisis at the Centre.