Trinamul Congress on Monday lashed out at Governor C V Ananda Bose over his remarks against the state government and said the Raj Bhawan occupant is fast following the footsteps of his predecessor Jadgeep Dhankhar as a "cadre of BJP".
The TMC criticism came on the back of Bose's statement on Sunday in which he termed the attack on Union Minister Nitish Pramanik as "deplorable" and said that he will not be a "mute witness" to the deterioration in the law and order in the state. He also sought an action taken report from the state government.
This was the second time in a month that the governor made a statement against the TMC government. The governor and the TMC shared a genial relation with it since he assumed office in November last year.
Lashing out at the governor, the TMC in its mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla' accused governors of acting like a cadre of the saffron camp, an oft repeated charge by it.
"Jagdeep Dhankhar had proved that the role of the governor is to pursue the agenda of BJP. The present governor is fast working towards following his footsteps ...The governor is issuing statements against the government just by listening to the one-sided version of BJP. This is where the neutrality of the governor comes under question," the editorial stated.
"We must not forget that governors are just cadres of the BJP," it added.
Bose had said in a statement that he spoke to Pramanik, the union minister of state for home, about the attack that took place in Coochbehar on Saturday.
TMC supporters had allegedly attacked Pramanik's convoy at Dinhata.
Sharpening TMC's attack on the governor, senior TMC MLA Madan Mitra said the party will reciprocate as long as the governor behaves impartially.
"If the governor feels he can pinprick us, we will not sit silently. If he starts behaving like a cadre of the BJP he will receive a befitting reply from us. If he thinks the state government is under surveillance, then he too is under surveillance," Mitra said. Bose had earned the ire of the Trinamool Congress for his statement earlier this month that there will be “zero tolerance policy” over corruption and nobody will be allowed to take the law into their hands in the state. The TMC had then said that as long as he maintains courtesy and acts within the rules, the party will reciprocate with courtesy.
If the governor tries to criticise the state government against norms, TMC will not stop to give a “befitting reply”, it said.
The opposition BJP Monday described TMC's verbal attack on the governor as "crossing the limits" of courtesy and democratic norms.
"As long as he (governor) praised the state government, he was perfect. But as soon as he raised a few questions, the TMC went all out to attack him. The kind of language the TMC leaders are using has crossed all limits of courtesy and democratic norms," BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.
The relationship between the state government and the present Raj Bhawan occupant till a few weeks ago sharply contrasted with what the state saw during Dhankhar's tenure. Bose's cordial relationship with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had even drawn the ire of the state BJP.
Dhankar's acrimonious relationship with the state government had made regular headlines and the TMC repeatedly accused him of acting as an "agent of the BJP". The former alleged that the state government was not functioning as per constitutional norms.
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