Trinamool likely to raise issue of Guv's 'interference' in Parliament
Kolkata: The ongoing tussle between West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Trinamool Congress is likely to turn murkier as the ruling party is mulling to move a 'substantive motion' in the Parliament during the upcoming Budget Session against the 'interference' of Dhankhar in the running of state affairs.
The ruling party might demand the removal of the Governor in the Parliament during the Budget Session starting January 31.
"We have unanimously agreed that the role of the Governor in Bengal has reached unprecedented lows. He is even questioning the Chief Minister's decision to appoint a chairperson for the Human Rights Commission.
"Unlike the President, the Governor is a nominated individual and the way he is attacking and questioning every move by an elected government with two-third majority in the Assembly, it seems he has been given a mandate to keep disturbing this government," said Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy after the party's Members of Parliament met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her residence to discuss Trinamool's policies for the upcoming Budget session.
"The nature of a substantive motion is like a resolution. Our Parliamentary party is yet to decide if we will move this only in the Rajya Sabha or in both the Houses of Parliament. But the motion can call for removal of the Governor and there can be a division on it. Depending on which way the MPs vote and if the motion is passed by the Parliament, the process of removal will have to begin," Roy said.
According to party insiders, Banerjee, who presided over the meeting on Thursday, was reportedly unhappy and asked all the MPs to raise their voice in the Parliament against the Governor, who has been continuously attacking the state government over several issues.
Dhankhar has accused the ruling party of "trampling" democracy and keeping the Governor's office "in the dark" about the state government's policies and its public expenditure.
The conflict between the Governor and the state government reached a flashpoint after Dhankhar openly criticised the Trinamool regime and Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Tuesday.
After paying tribute to B.R. Ambedkar at the Assembly premises on the occasion of National Voters' Day on Tuesday, Dhankhar had said: "The Speaker thinks he has the licence to speak anything about the Governor. Has he become a law unto himself? I will not tolerate such indiscretion. The Speaker should not henceforth blackout the address of the Governor. If he does it, he will face the music."
"He thinks he is above the Governor. Who is the Constitutional head? Does he not know Article 168 -- the Governor is number one in the legislature, second in the House. I hope good sense prevails," Dhankhar added.
The Governor also didn't spare the Chief Minister and the ruling party, saying: "For the last two years, the Chief Minister has not replied to any information sought. The bureaucracy has to be held accountable. The bureaucracy is politically committed. Are they to follow the diktats of an individual?"
On the same day, Dhankhar also wrote to the Trinamool supremo alleging that the failure of the government to furnish all the documents sought by the Governor indicates that "the state government is unable to function according to the Constitutional provisions".
In the letter dated January 25 which surfaced on Thursday after the Governor uploaded it on his Twitter handle, Dhankhar called upon Mamata Banerjee to make available at the earliest information regarding Pegasus notification and also relating to Pandemic Purchase Enquiry, Bengal Global Business Summit, Bengal Aerotropolis Project, GTA, MAA Canteen and State Finance Commission.