The tension between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) flared in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday with Congress president Sonia Gandhi thumping her desk while MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded a court-monitored CBI probe into the death of the party’s councillor in West Bengal.
During Zero Hour, Mr. Chowdhury raised the issue of the murder of Congress councilor Tapan Kandu and the mysterious death of 18-year-old student activist Anis Khan. A four-time Congress councillor of Jhalda municipality in West Bengal’s Purulia district, Mr. Kandu was shot dead on Sunday. Mr Chowdhury alleged the ruling TMC was involved in the murder of Mr. Kandu in collusion with a section of the police.
He also raised the death of the student activist last month and claimed that elections can no longer be held independently in the State amid the prevailing “lawlessness”.
Family members of Anis Khan had alleged that he was pushed off the second floor of their residence at Amta in Howrah district on the night of February 18 by four people, with one wearing a police uniform and the others wearing the dress of civic volunteers.
“I demand a court-monitored CBI inquiry into the murder of Kandu and Khan. I urge the Human Rights Commission, Scheduled Caste Commission and the Minorities Commission that they also demand such an inquiry,” Mr. Chowdhury said.
While the comments prompted Ms. Gandhi, seated few seats away from him, to thump her desk in support, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee strongly protested and started shouting slogans against Mr. Chowdhury. Other TMC MPs, however, didn’t join him.
Though Ms. Gandhis’ gesture of solidarity for a slain party colleague is on expected lines, the episode also reflects the frosty relationships between the two parties. Last week, after the Congress’ decimation in the Assembly polls, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee had called for an Opposition front without the Congress as it had lost all credibility.
