In an attempt to inculcate parliamentary norms among newly-elected Congress MLAs (half of them being new faces), Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said that he would take their classes. He also asked them to regularly attend the Assembly session. Mr Mukherjee was addressing the newly-elected party MLAs at the Congress headquarters: Bidhan Bhavan. Mr Mukherjee and the AICC general secretary and incharge of West Bengal, Shakeel Ahmad met the newly-elected MLAs to seek their opinion over the subject of joining the Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state.
“You must not skip the Assembly session on flimsy excuses. Keep aside your personal problems like pursuing a court case or attending a patient,” Mr Mukerjee added.
He suddenly turned extremely serious and told the legislators that it was his command and not request.
“During my 40-year-long political career I have forced six party ministers to resign for being absent in the House during voting,” Mr Mukherjee claimed.
His decision to take classes of the MLAs should not surprise anyone who knows Mr Mukherjee.
Before he joined politics, he had begun his career as a lecturer of political science in a college in the state in 1960s. Besides, after inaugurating a college in Murshidabad a few years ago, Mr Mukherjee had taught students political science.