As the Left engaged in a slanging match with the Trinamool Congress, they found a surprise supporter in leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha LK Advani.
The Left parties and the BJP were seen on the same side of a debate in Parliament on Monday after the CPI(M)-led block strongly protested the Centre’s decision to send a central team to study the law and order situation in West Bengal.
As the Left engaged in a slanging match with the Trinamool Congress, they found a surprise supporter in leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha LK Advani.
Despite the BJP’s ideological differences and varied views on governance in West Bengal, Advani said, he was one with the Left parties against the use of Article 356.
“However, the CPM and their allies should not use double standards on this issue as they had backed such a move in BJP-ruled states in the aftermath of the Babri mosque demolition,” he said.
No to be left behind, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav declared his concurrence with Advani’s views. “We are against invoking Article 356. If bad law and order situation is a yardstick for central intervention, then Delhi should be the first on the list,” he said.
Earlier, as soon as the two houses assembled for the day, Left MPs were on their feet. “You impose President’s rule and we will deal with it on the streets. Sending a central team is against the spirit of federalism,” Left leaders Basudeb Acharya and Gurudas Dasgupta said.
The Trinmool brigade led by Sudip Bandopadhya rebutted Acharya’s claim. Referring to the “poor law and order situation” in the state, he said 113 of his party workers had been killed in “state-sponsored terrorism”. Intervening on the issue in both houses, home minister P Chidambaram allayed fears of President’s rule in Bengal. “Don’t view the central team’s visit through the prism of Article 356,” he said. The team was going to assist the state improve law and order, he said.
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