Amid bonhomie, a wrinkle: TMC at odds with Governor over official’s ‘removal’

Stepping up the ante, Ghosh said, “C V Ananda Bose has been appointed as West Bengal Governor by those who earlier appointed Jagdeep Dhankhar to the same post. Their roots are the same despite having differences in the style of functioning. Therefore, it will be wrong to assume that Bose and Dhankhar will have different goals.”

The TMC’s sharp reaction came days after the Governor met state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and issued a strong statement in which he said there would be a zero-tolerance policy on corruption and that violence had no place in elections. He said free and fair elections would be ensured in the coming panchayat elections. The Opposition has been trying to corner the TMC on the corruption issue since last year when former state minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested in connection with the alleged school jobs scam. Several other TMC leaders are under the scanner of central agencies in other corruption cases.

Sources said Chakravorty had refused to clear a proposal for the formation of an advisory committee for the Governor in which Bose’s choice was a former IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre and a former IPS officer who had worked as the Special Director of the CBI and also as the Commissioner of Delhi Police.

Referring to this alleged proposal, Kunal Ghosh said, “If the Governor tries to use IPS officers from other states in a different way, the reaction from our end will also be different.”

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, who has been critical of Bose for his cordial relationship with the TMC government, sought to rub in the salt by saying, “It seems sweets sent by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not yield any results.” Bose met Dhankhar in New Delhi on Monday.

Responding to Ghosh’s remarks, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “Trinamool has never cared for constitutional necessities and it is doing the same thing this time as well. The Governor has always extended his courtesy to the state government. The TMC on the other hand only attacked the post of the Governor.”

BJP’s previous criticism

Last month, BJP leaders criticised Bose following an event at the Raj Bhavan attended by Mamata Banerjee on January 26. Bose, in an attempt to start learning Bengali, organised a “Haathe Khori (initiation with a chalk)” ceremony at the Raj Bhavan. In Bengali families, the ritual is organised to mark the formal beginning of a child’s education. While Banerjee attended the event, Adhikari boycotted it and alleged that the event was part of the state government’s attempt to “wash off the stain” of the alleged teacher recruitment scam. His party colleagues Dilip Ghosh, who is the BJP national vice president, and Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta also criticised the event. At the time, BJP insiders said a section of the party’s state leaders was not appreciative of Bose’s “friendly approach” to the ruling party.

A day after the event, Bose travelled to Delhi amid rumours of him being “summoned” to the national Capital. But sources close to him said he was in Delhi to attend a wedding in a BJP leader’s family.

Though the ties between the Raj Bhavan and the TMC government were strained during Dhankhar’s tenure because of his regular criticism of the state administration, things seemed to improve since Bose took charge on November 23. Earlier in January, Banerjee called the Governor a “perfect gentleman” after meeting him at the Raj Bhavan. On January 17, after a meeting with Bose and vice-chancellors of all universities in the state, state Education Minister Bratya Basu said the Raj Bhavan and the state secretariat would work together for the development of the education sector.a