KOLKATA: Mercury in Bengal politics soared up on the day of newly appointed governor C. V. Ananda Bose’s swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday as Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari skipped the event over the issue of his seating arrangement.
Adhikari alleged he was given a seat beside two MLAs who were elected on BJP’s ticket in the 2021 Assembly elections but defected to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) which was designed with a political motive.
"The sitting arrangement made by the Information and Cultural Affairs department of the state government was a reflection of the ruling party’s political revenge game. Two MLAs, Krishna Kalyani and Biswajit Das, was elected as BJP candidate and shifted their police allegiance to the TMC. I skipped the swearing-in ceremony protesting against my sitting arrangement,’’ said Adhikari.
Describing the sitting arrangement as "uncultured conduct’’, Adhikari tweeted, ‘’The Information & Cultural Affairs Dept; WB Govt had made the arrangements of the oath-taking ceremony. Sitting arrangements as per the Minister in Charge @MamataOfficial’s whim.’’
Adhikari also alleged that the BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar, who is the state president of the saffron camp, was given a seat behind the TMC MPs.
Hitting out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari said, ‘’She cannot forget her defeat in Nandigram by me. She had to get elected from a seat in Kolkata to continue as the Chief Minister.’’
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh described Adhikari’s decision to skip the swearing-in event as an example of uncultured political conduct.
Shortly after assuming office, Bose received the first letter of complaint from state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accusing the ruling TMC of misusing administrative power.
Referring to Congress’s victory in defeating the TMC in Jhalda municipality in Purulia in a vote of confidence on Monday, Chowdhury alleged the councillors of his party are under torture and threat by the TMC and he sought the governor’s intervention.
The appointment of Bose, a former IAS officer, as the governor is said to be politically significant as the BJP’s Bengal chapter expressed its unhappiness over the role of La Ganesan, the constitutional head of Manipur who was in charge of Bengal, as he preferred to maintain silence on the issue of a TMC minister’s remark on the President appearance.
Bengal witnessed a slew of face-offs between the state government and former governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on several issues ranging from poor governance to the state's law and order situation.
The TMC accused Dhankhar on several occasions of working at the behest of the BJP and alleged that the Raj Bhavan had turned into an extension of the saffron camp’s party office.