Trinamool will boycott Budget to protest PM's ‘vendetta politics’

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress has decided to boycott the first two days of the Budget Session of Parliament to protest the Narendra Modi-led Central government’s demonetisation drive and its “politics of vendetta”, which the party said resulted in the arrest of party MPs Sudip Bandopadhyay and Tapas Paul in connection with Rose Valley chit fund scam.

The decision was taken at a high-level parliamentary party meeting chaired by chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence on Monday. TMC MPs also boycotted the all-party meeting which was held in Delhi on Monday before the commencement of the Budget Session.

Ms Banerjee also appointed Saugata Roy as deputy parliamentary party leader in the Lok Sabha, and directed him to take a leading role in the ensuing Parliament Session in the absence of Mr Bandopadhyay.

“We will not attend the first two days of the Budget Session on January 31 and February 1 in protest against demonetisation, which was implemented without taking the Parliament into confidence, and the restrictions on withdrawal limits from bank accounts which are still in force,” the TMC’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee, told reporters after the meeting.

He added that the TMC, from February 2 onwards, would continue to raise its voice against the note ban, and the illegal arrests of its two party MPs — both inside and outside the Parliament — during the ensuing session. “The Narendra Modi government is misusing the CBI and abusing its power to arrest our party MPs. It is a clear case of political vindictive attitude,” he said.

On the question of coordinating with the Congress on the floor of the House on the issue of demonetisation, Mr Banerjee said, “Our main aim is to remove Narendra Modi from the Prime Minister’s chair. Whichever party will have the same agenda will get our full support.”

On being asked who would be the party legislative chief as Sudip Bandopadhyay is now in prison, Mr Banerjee said the TMC would be led in the Parliament by senior party leader Saugata Roy along with deputy-parliamentary party leader Ratna Dey Nag.

“Sudip Da will continue to be the Lok Sabha Parliamentary party leader of the TMC. He has more than 50 years of political career and by arresting him, he cannot be removed from our leadership. We will extend our support to him and hope that he will be back in Parliament soon,” he added.

The Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party immediately issued a statement after the Kalighat meeting, making their stand clear about not attending the first two days of the Budget Session. The statement was signed jointly by TMC MPs Derek O’Brien, Kalyan Banerjee, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Saugata Roy and Dinesh Trivedi.

Ms Banerjee had earlier questioned the move to present the Union Budget on February 1, as the state government would be celebrating Saraswati Puja on the same day.