Agartala, December 19 (IANS): The Tripura Assembly on Monday witnessed a bizarre scene during the house proceedings as a TMC legislator ran away with the Speaker's mace, stalling legislative business. The incident occurred while the members were debating heatedly about the alleged "womanising" issue involving ruling CPI-M leaders. The Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators had approached the Speaker's podium and started sloganeering against Forests Minister Naresh Jamatia. All of a sudden, TMC MLA Sudip Roy Barman seized the Speaker's mace and ran away with it outside the house abruptly putting a halt to the proceedings. The Watch-and-Ward staff, led by the Marshal, followed Barman and after half-a-minute brought the mace back, before Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath went to his chamber. Earlier, Barman, referring to media reports and an expelled Communist Party of India-Marxist leader's allegation, raised the "womanising" issue against the Forests Minister and demanded his resignation. Jamatia, however, strongly refuted the allegation and told the house that he has already filed a case in a local court against the newspaper. Since Tripura become a full-fledged state in January 1972, incidents of running away with the symbolic silver mace by opposition legislators in the midst of an assembly sitting has occurred thrice.
