Kolkata, Mar 16 (PTI) Four BJP MLAs who had joined the TMC alleged on Wednesday that Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari threatened them with tax raids for disrupting his speech in the assembly.

Adhikari termed the allegation baseless.

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BJP MLAs Krishna Kalyani (Raiganj), Tanmoy Ghosh (Bishnupur), Soumen Roy (Kaliaganj) and Biswajit Das (Bagda), who continue to occupy the opposition benches, repeatedly intervened when Adhikari was speaking during the discussion on the Home Department's budget.

They criticised Adhikari "for speaking lies and spreading canards against the state government".

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The four BJP MLAs had joined the TMC last year without giving up the membership of the House. They have not yet been disqualified under the anti-defection law.

Adhikari and other BJP MLAs walked out of the House when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee started speaking on the budget.

After the chief minister completed her speech, Kalyani complained to Speaker Biman Banerjee that while leaving the House, Adhikari threatened the four MLAs with income tax raids for disrupting his speech.

The speaker took note of the complaint and said the four MLAs will be provided with protection as per the rules of the House.

The chief minister, while speaking on the issue, said the incident proved who controls the Income Tax Department in West Bengal.

"It proves who controls the central agency in the state. I would request speaker sir to take care of it," she said.

Later, Adhikari told reporters that the allegation was baseless.

"The way the ruling party tried to create disturbance during my speech by using the turncoat MLAs is unprecedented," he said.

(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)