A new wind blowing from Kolkata Raj Bhavan: Mamata may go to TN on Governor invite

The CM has accepted the invitation and will fly to Chennai on November 2. This is being seen as an attempt to bury the hatchet between the state government and the office of the Governor given the bitter relation it had with former Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Banerjee’s proposed visit to Chennai comes days ahead of her crucial meeting with Amit Shah at the state secretariat in Kolkata. Shah is scheduled to attend and chair a meeting of the Eastern Zonal Security Council at Nabanna on November 5.

Sources said Banerjee will attend the meeting. Chief ministers from Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Sikkim are also likely to attend it However, there is no confirmation yet on whether the two (Mamata and Shah) would have a one-to-one meeting.

Since Manipur Governor La Ganesan took oath as Governor of West Bengal in July this year, the Mamata Banerjee government so far has maintained cordial relations with Raj Bhawan. Ganesan was given the additional charge of West Bengal after the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar, who was nominated by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as its vice presidential candidate. While Dhankhar was Governor, the TMC government had an acrimonious relation with Raj Bhawan that often snowballed into major controversies.

On several occasions, the state government and Raj Bhawan entered into serious confrontations, with the CM blocking Dhankhar on Twitter because of his frequent use of the platform to target the administration.

From the law and order situation in the state to post poll violence and from corruption charges to “lapses” in bureaucracy, Dhankhar often raised several issues to target the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government.

He also shared an acrimonious relation with West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, who last year complained to (then) President Ram Nath Kovind against Dhankhar for “interfering” in matters of the state government. Dhankhar, on the other hand, criticised the Speaker for “stopping” video coverage of his speech in the state Assembly and even “closing the gates of Assembly on one occasion, denying him entry.”

The acrimonious relation between the two sides took a turn for the worse when the state government decided to replace the Governor with the Chief Minister as chancellor of the state universities.

In this regard, the state Assembly on June 13 passed the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022. A day later, the Assembly passed another bill, ‘West Bengal Private University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022’ to appoint the state education minister as the Visitor of private universities in the state, replacing Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

The bills are pending with the Governor’s office for approval. Dhankhar had also returned the Howrah Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, to the state government for reconsideration.