Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is scheduled to go to Delhi on Tuesday evening for a three-day visit that comes right after a delegation of BJP MLAs met him at Raj Bhawan on Monday.
“Hon’ble Governor West Bengal. Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar will be visiting New Delhi. Governor Dhankhar will leave for Delhi on the late evening of June 15, 2021 and return to Kolkata on June 18, 2021 in the late afternoon” the governor tweeted on Tuesday morning, without any further elaboration on his appointments there.
Sources said he governor is likely to meet Union home minister Amit Shah during his stay in the national capital.
“We are keeping a watch on what he says during his stay in Delhi and immediately after return to Calcutta. If necessary, we will press for the demand of his removal again,” said a Trinamul MP.
The law and order situation in the state, especially its legacy of political violence, has been a contentious point between the two. Soon after his meeting with the BJP legislators on Monday, Governor Dhankhar had again referred to attacks on political rivals in the state and pointed fingers at the police. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee holds the home department portfolio making her directly responsible for the law and order situation in the state.
“Over 50 Opposition MLAs expressed serious concern at lawlessness and partisan stance of West Bengal Police and Calcutta Police and sought intervention as the situation was sliding,” the Governor had tweeted. In the same tweet, while assuring the Opposition lawmakers of looking into the matter, he specified that he was aware (of the situation).
Mamata has repeatedly dismissed the charges levelled by the BJP in Delhi and Calcutta as “fake and false.”
The Governor’s ties with the Bengal government have been tenuous since his arrival at the Raj Bhawan and has steadily deteriorated over the months.
The Trinamul had in January this year written to President Ramnath Kovind seeking the governor’s removal.
The governor is known to regularly summon top bureaucrats and police officers in the state, as well as seek apologies from the chief minister publicly from his Twitter handle. He had once asked the state government to submit details of the expenses incurred for its annual business summit, which had irked Mamata and the Trinamul leadership.
Even his sudden visits to the districts have not gone down well with the state government. His visit to Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi where five people were killed on polling day had prompted Mamata to write a letter informing him that the visits “violated standard protocol.”
“He has been directly acting on the orders of the Umion home minister. His is on a political agenda,” said a Trinamul source.
The Trinamul MP Kalyan Banerjee had directly blamed the governor for the arrest of the Trinamul ministers and leaders in connection with the Narada sting operation scandal.