A ruckus broke out in the West Bengal Assembly on Monday after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP-led Centre of withholding MGNREGA funds for over two years. The BJP MLAs protested the remark with slogans against the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led government, prompting an escalation that led to the suspension of an MLA and a walkout by the Opposition.

Banerjee, speaking during the Question-Answer session in the Assembly, alleged, “The Central government has illegally stopped Bengal’s MGNREGA funds. Even states with ‘double engine governments’ have faced corruption charges, but their funds haven’t been stopped. Only Bengal’s legitimate dues have been withheld. This is a corrupt government.”

She had stood up and made the remark while State Panchayats and Rural Development Minister Pradip Majumder was responding to questions.

As the Chief Minister spoke, BJP MLAs including Shikha Chatterjee and Shankar Ghosh stood up in protest. Banerjee hit back, saying the protesting MLAs “lacked the power” to win even a councillor’s seat. This prompted more sloganeering from the Opposition benches. Tensions further escalated when State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya addressed the House.

Meanwhile, BJP MLAs attempted to move a motion related to the alleged state school jobs scam, referring to the Supreme Court’s recent decision to cancel the entire panel of the SLST-2016. The Speaker rejected the motion, calling it sub judice, leading to further sloganeering from BJP MLAs. Kumargram MLA Manoj Oraon continued his protest despite repeated warnings from Speaker Biman Banerjee. The Speaker eventually ordered marshals to remove Oraon from the House and later announced his suspension for one day of the monsoon session.

Following Oraon’s suspension, all BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly in protest.