Mamata Banerjee resigns as MP

NDTV: "Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee today walked out of Parliament in anger and later quit her Lok Sabha seat after being denied permission to raise an adjournment motion. But it's not clear whether it was a spontaneous stormy outburst or a planned political move.

What is clear though is that the Trinamool leader took the Lok Sabha by surprise when she suddenly threw her papers in the officiating Speaker's face and marched out. Then she quit as member of Parliament because she was not allowed to raise an adjournment motion to discuss infiltration by Bangladeshi migrants into West Bengal.

As a stunned Lok Sabha witnessed the outburst, Mamata said she was resigning as member of parliament. "There is no point in my being a member of the House if I am not allowed to raise people's issues," Mamata Banerjee told reporters.

Sources say the walkout may have been triggered off by her need to seize a popular issue before the West Bengal assembly elections in February. Or was she merely looking for an issue to quit and contest the state elections? The Mamata camp says Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's Left background is the reason that her adjournment motion was denied.

Mamata ''alleges that Somnath doesn't let her raise issues''. Chatterjee, who was not presiding when the incident occurred, has denied Mamata's allegation and has appealed to her not to resign.

"I condemn it," Chatterjee said adding that he had seen the TV footage of Banerjee's action against the Chair. Mamata's resignation is reportedly not valid because the letter was sent to the Deputy Speaker, instead of the Speaker. "A letter has been received...through an officer of the House to the Deputy Speaker, the Honourable member concerned has tendered her resignation. It is not a proper letter of resignation. It was not submitted in a proper form and I am not treating it as a letter of resignation," he said.

Mamata's behaviour was criticised by several leaders in parliament. "Whatever happened today was a very sad incident. We strongly condemn it. No person from any party has a right to act in such a manner against the Speaker. Whatever Mamataji did today by throwing papers at the Deputy Speaker's face has to be condemned," said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia said her action was "unprecedented", but Leader of the Opposition L K Advani suggested Banerjee could be called to the Speaker's chamber for a discussion on the matter.

But in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress leader Pankaj Banerji said that Mamata's decision to resign was a justified political statement and not a whimsical one. "She has not done this for her own political party. This is for the cause of Bengal that she tried to voice. Her decision is absolutely political and justified so far as the people of West Bengal are concerned," Pankaj Banerji said. (with PTI inputs)"