New Delhi, May 4: The Trinamul Congress was completely isolated in Parliament on Tuesday as members from all sides, including some Congress MPs from Mahar-ashtra, demanded to know what railway minister Mam-ata Banerjee was doing on the strike by
Mumbai’s railway motormen which left that city paralysed over 24 hours. (The strike was called off later Tuesday after the Maharashtra government stepped in to intervene.)
The railway minister, who was in Kolkata, came under flak from all sides, particularly CPI(M) members, in both Houses. As the Opposition stepped up its tempo, Trinamul Congress chief whip Sudip Bandy-opadhyay, trying to defend his leader, shouted “Chup” (shut up) at CPI(M) MP Basudeb Acharia in the Lok Sabha when he asked if the government would withdraw ESMA invoked aga-inst the striking motormen.
At this, the bedlam intensified as the Opposition led by the Left demanded that Mr Bandyopadhyay apologise. Information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni and Samajwadi MP Rewati Raman Singh intervened to stop the spat worsening, and parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal also rushed in to prevent angry CPI(M) MP Ram Chandra Dome from settling scores directly with Mr Bandopadhyay.
Age Correspondent