The train accident in Sainthia rocked the state Assembly on Monday as the MLAs of the ruling Left Front and the Congress and Trinamul Congress traded charges.
Their verbal duel led to pandemonium in the House. Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim had to intervene to calm the warring members. Later, the Opposition walked out of the House protesting against the ruling of the Speaker.
The war of words between began in the Zero Hour when senior member of the CPI(M) Rabin Mondal said that the accident in Sainthia which killed over 60 people proved that “accidents have become a regular feature of the railways.” Demanding the resignation of the railway minister Mamata Banerjee, Mr Mondal said, “ We have a minister whose attention is elsewhere and the country is paying the price for that.”
The country now needed a full railway time minister, Mr Mondal added.
Taking potshots at her, he said, “In stead of taking care of passengers safety, the minister seems to be more concerned about her self-promotion and self-publicity.”
Taking part in the debate Ashoke Deb of the Trinamul Congress said that it was clearly a case of sabotage. “This was done in a planned way to sabotage the Trinamul Congress rally on July 21.”
Mr Deb also demanded that the Speaker expunged the derogatory remarks about the railway minister from the records of the House.
Taking cue from Mr Deb, Partha Chatterjee said, “It is not the right time to do politics over such a tragic incident which involves so many deaths.”