Even as Jagdeep Dhankhar continues to make news in his new role as Vice-President, winds of change are blowing from the West Bengal Raj Bhavan he vacated. Governor C V Ananda Bose, who has had a quiet two months in the house, crossed another milestone on Tuesday, when he had a meeting with Education Minister Bratya Basu and all the vice-chancellors of different universities in the state, leading to a statement that the three sides resolved to “work together”. The appointment of vice-chancellors was one of the main bones of contention between Governor Dhankhar and the Mamata Banerjee government, with the latter eventually proposing a Bill to take away the Governor's powers regarding the same as the Chancellor of state universities. Emerging from his meeting with Bose, Basu said: “I profusely thank the Chancellor for giving us a patient hearing. The steam of the past completely evaporated today. We had an excellent meeting, followed by an excellent lunch. It was decided that the Governor's House, the Education Department and the vice-chancellors will work in a coordinated manner for the development of the state's education sector.” The Governor also expressed satisfaction with the meeting, saying: "We discussed issues in an extremely positive and encouraging ambience. The spirit of the discussion was how to open new avenues of education for the next generation, so that they can carry forward the rich academic heritage of the state. Education is the most powerful medium for changing the society. There will be a new Bengal which will lead the country and the world, with the spirit of what Rabindranath Tagore had said - 'Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high'." After a prolonged period of near-constant friction with the Centre, apart from with Dhankhar as Governor, the Trinamool Congress has been trying to make peace with Delhi and the Raj Bhavan. Fighting several cases on many fronts, the TMC has avoided confrontation with both, with the detente at the Raj Bhavan one more sign of it. Governor Bose has responded in kind. Unlike Dhankhar who had regular media interactions, apart from daily tweets raising questions about government decisions and moves, Bose has kept a low profile. The only time he intervened was following a protest by lawyers obstructing functioning of Calcutta High Court Justice Rajasekhar Mantha's courtroom. Bose summoned Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi and DGP Manoj Malviya and asked them to ensure that the incident was not repeated. The protesting lawyers immediately climbed down, and called off their protest. Last month, after a meeting with the Governor, Mamata called him a "perfect gentleman". "The Governor is so nice. He is the perfect gentleman. I hope there will be no more problems as his relationship with the state government is in perfect sync. The state government will get all the cooperation from the Governor, as things can be sorted out through discussions." Before it, the Mamata government made it a point to invite Bose for the inaugural ceremony of last year’s Kolkata International Film Festival. The warm ties bode well for the West Bengal Assembly Budget Session beginning on February 8. Last year, Dhankhar had refused to read out his opening speech at the Budget Session following protests. "We do not want to dwell on the past. The new Governor has shown eagerness to cooperate with the state government. We are also keen to do that. The previous Governor was acting at the behest of a particular party and was serving an agenda. The Governor House should be free of politics," a senior TMC leader said. Asked about the improvement in relationship between the TMC government and the new Governor, the BJP said the ruling party has no other option. "The TMC is in a spot. The party is struggling to come out of so many scams involving its leaders. By cooperating with the Governor House, it is trying for an image makeover," BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.
