Pranab to don teacher hat

Calcutta, July 24: Pranab Mukherjee will take a class on House norms for newly elected Congress MLAs on Friday.

Mukherjee, who was a lecturer in political science at a South 24-Parganas college before he joined politics in the early 1960s, had expressed his desire to teach the Congress MLAs parliamentary norms soon after they were elected in May.

Of the 42 Congress legislators, over 30 are first-timers.

“Baba is a veteran parliamentarian. His deliberations will be of immense help to us,” Abhijit, the Union finance minister’s son, said. The Nalhati MLA will be attending his father’s class.

Mukherjee had handed the party lawmakers his first lesson at a meeting at the state Congress headquarters in May.

“Don’t skip the Assembly session on lame excuses. Keep aside your personal issues, like attending to a patient or going to court, and participate in House proceedings without fail. This is not a request but a command,” he had told the MLAs.

He had also reminded the legislators that during his four-decade-old career as a parliamentarian, he had forced six party ministers to resign for being absent from the House during voting.

“Each of you is committed to your electorate of two lakhs that you will represent in the Assembly. So, your absence from the House would be unacceptable,” he was heard telling the party legislators.

Mukherjee is expected to give similar lessons in his Friday class.

PCC chief Pradip Bhattacharya said Mukherjee could warn the MLAs about skipping the Assembly when it is in session.

“To play truant from House when it is in session will be firmly dealt with,” he said.

Mukherjee is also expected to dwell at length on how to deal with Opposition members.

“Our MLAs, most of them first-timers, must learn some basic House nomenclatures such as mention hour, zero hour and cut motion to confront the Opposition,” Sabina Yasmin, a first time Congress MLA from Malda, said. Sabina is the junior labour minister in the Mamata Banerjee government.

“We must learn by heart Pranabda’s deliberations,” said Shaoni Singha Roy, a Congress MLA.

However, some Congress MLAs, particularly the 14 from Murshidabad, have decided to use the occasion to tell Mukherjee how Congress supporters are being harassed by Trinamul activists, sources said.