Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visited post-poll violence affected areas of Cooch Behar district on Thursday.
Kolkata:
West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress alleged that governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who visited post-poll violence affected areas of Cooch Behar district on Thursday ignoring the advice of the state government, violated constitutional provisions.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday wrote to Mr Dhankhar claiming that his visit to Cooch Behar would be “violative of the long-standing norms as evolved over several decades” and urged him to desist from “abrupt decisions with regards to field visits”.
The governor, in his reply, said that he was discharging duties mandated by the Constitution and his visit to Cooch Behar was to share the pain and agony of the people suffering from post-poll violence.
“He (Dhankhar) did not listen to the state government and went to Cooch Behar. He went there in the company of a BJP leader. His conduct is unconstitutional,” veteran Trinamool leader Sougata Ray said.
BJP MP Nisith Pramanik accompanied Mr Dhankhar during his visit to violence-hit areas of the district.
“Previously we had written a letter to the president against this governor. If the CM says, we will send another letter against him to the president,” Mr Ray told reporters.
The Trinamool in December last year had written to President Ram Nath Kovind to remove Jagdeep Dhankhar from the post of the West Bengal governor, accusing him of “transgressing constitutional limits” by regularly commenting against the state administration in public.
Senior party leader and minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay claimed that Mr Dhankhar’s conduct is unbecoming of a governor.
“The governor is doing politics over stray incidents after polls for which the state government has taken all necessary steps. He is doing politics when the state is busy fighting the pandemic. We wish that the governor and the state government work together to fight the Covid situation,” Mr Chattopadhyay told reporters.
In a Twitter post, Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar urged Mr Dhankhar to “stop nasty divisive propaganda”, saying it is not time for that.
However, she did not mention the governor’s visit to Coochbehar.
“His Master’s Voice @jdhankhar1 ji #GangaExposedModi No treatment No vaccine no #ventilators No cremation of dead Policy failure by @PMOIndia Stop nasty divisive propaganda It is not the time Save India from #CovidIndia,” Mr Ghosh Dastidar tweeted.
She tagged the post to the official Twitter handles of Mamata Banerjee and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien who is also the party’s national spokesperson.
Mr O’Brien retweeted Ms Ghosh Dastidar’s post.