MLAs Who Joined Trinamool Allege Tax Raid Threat By BJP's Suvendu Adhikari

Four BJP MLAs who had joined the Trinamool alleged on Wednesday that Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari threatened them with tax raids for disrupting his speech in the assembly.

Mr Adhikari however termed the allegation as baseless.

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

They criticised Mr Adhikari "for lying and spreading canards against the state government".

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

Mr 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, Mr Kalyani complained to Speaker Biman Banerjee that while leaving the House, Mr 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 in accordance with 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 the honourable speaker to take care of it. Privilege motion should be brought against the leader who is making such threats and that too in the assembly," she said.

Later while talking to reporters, Mr Roy claimed that Mr Adhikari had also threatened to shoot him.

"He has also threatened to shoot me. But I did not mention it in the assembly," he said.

Later, Mr Adhikari told reporters that the allegation was baseless.

"The way the ruling party tried to create disturbance during my speech by using turncoat MLAs is unprecedented. Let them first prove it, let them bring privilege motion," he said.

According to state government sources, the four MLAs have been accorded with additional security by the police.

The Speaker has also been requested to ensure the four MLAs are given separate seats in the house.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)