BJP MLAs who joined TMC allege LoP of threatening them with tax raids

Suvendu Adhikari says such allegations must be made with evidence

BJP MLAs who recently joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday alleged that Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari had threatened them with tax raids during the Assembly proceedings. 

The incident occurred when the discussion on the Budget was on. Among the MLAs who made the allegation were  Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj constituency, Tanmoy Ghosh from Bishnupur, Soumen Roy from Kaliaganj and Biswajit Das from the Bagda constituency. All of them won on BJP ticket in May 2021, but later defected to the TMC.

While the LoP was speaking in the House during the day, these MLAs protested. The MLA from Raiganj also brought this to the issue to the notice of Speaker Biman Banerjee.  

During her speech on the allocation for the Home Department, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the developments indicated who controlled the Income Tax Department .

Mr. Adhikari, however refuted the allegations. He stated that such charges must be made with evidence. He alleged that the TMC was using turncoat MLAs to disrupt his speech. 

Interestingly, despite publicly switching sides the MLAs have not been disqualified under the anti-defection law and are seated in the Opposition benches along with other BJP MLAs.

The BJP MLAs, led by the LoP, walked out of the House when the Chief Minister was speaking.