Kolkata, Mar 17 (PTI) West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Thursday criticised BJP MLAs over their absence in the House when Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya was replying to queries posed by them during a discussion on budget, describing it as "dangerous for democracy".

He also said such conduct was "indecent and intolerant".

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After the minister finished her statement during the discussion on budget, Banerjee said, "I am shocked to find that the BJP legislators, who had made queries, left the House as she participated in the discussion."

"This is indecent and intolerant conduct of the BJP MLAs and I am hopeful they will rectify themselves," Banerjee said before adjourning the House till 11 AM of March 21.

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Bhattacharya also accused the BJP of only criticising the social welfare schemes of the Mamata Banerjee government and not being interested in constructive cooperation.

Taking part in the discussion on supplementary expenses in the state budget, Bhattacharya said the BJP members walked out of the House after raising questions and wondered whether they were serious on the issues or not.

"Yes in health, foodgrain production, 'Duare Ration' (ration at doorstep) project, and relief and rescue for natural calamities, clean water supply, our government has taken pioneering steps. The supplementary grants were meant for spending on these fronts," she said.

If the supplementary grants are not approved, the expenses would be stopped and many such projects could be affected, the minister said.

Replying to a query of Bishnu Prasad Sharma of the BJP, Bhattacharya stated, "You had said why so much borrowing had to take place with a high rate of interest. I tell you the expenses in supplementary grants were high due to COVID-19 and natural calamities. We are committed to serve people targeted in various schemes."

Accusing the BJP government at the Centre of doing "nothing to help the student community get world-class quality education in the country" since 2014, Bhattacharya said, "This has resulted in flight of our students to Ukraine, Russia and elsewhere to study medicine."

She also questioned, "Why there were not enough seats for them in the country. In contrast, our chief minister has taken a humanitarian and considerate approach to solve their problems," she said.

Bhattacharya claimed the number of seats in medical colleges in Bengal has risen from 1,355 to 5,000 during the tenure of the TMC government.

She said, "The Left parties and Ram (referring to the BJP) have joined hands to discredit the state but they will not succeed."

The supplementary grants for development of SC and ST, education, fisheries and relief for natural calamities were tabled in the assembly.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)