KOLKATA: The face-off between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor CV Ananda Bose hit a new low on Tuesday with the former accusing the constitutional head of the state of interfering in the affairs of the state-run universities and threatening to block funds for universities in Bengal.
Upping the ante against Bose over his recent move appointing interim vice-chancellors in seven universities and initiating the process in nine other institutions, Mamata also threatened to stage a sit-in demonstration in front of Raj Bhavan if he continues to act against the country’s federal structure and disregard the state government.
“Now we have a honourable governor sitting here who says he alone will see colleges, universities, everything. Have you ever heard of a vice-chancellor being changed in the middle of the night? Ex-IPS, ex-judge have been brought in overnight. He is running Raj Bhavan like it is his zamindari. If any college or university obeys what you are doing, I will create a financial blockade. Let us see how the vice-chancellors are given salary. Here is tit for tat, no compromise,” said Mamata while addressing a gathering on the occasion of Teacher’s Day in Kolkata.
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Mamata also accused Bose of not clearing the Bills sent by the state government. “He is doing nothing. We are passing a Bill in the Assembly and he is not giving assent. According to the Constitution and federal structure of the country, he cannot do that. These issues should be taken care of. Otherwise, I will sit on a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan,” she said.
The Bengal government and Bose have been at loggerheads over the Raj Bhavan’s decision to appoint seven interim vice-chancellors. Bose, in his capacity as the chancellor of the state-run universities, also initiated a process of appointing nine other interim VCs.
Accusing the governor of acting in a “dictatorial manner”, West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu alleged it was an attempt to interfere in the functioning of the state government.
Both the Congress and the CPM slammed the TMC for its political slugfest with the governor. “A governor’s boundary in confronting the state government is debatable. But the way the chief minister and her party are attacking the governor is not desirable,” said Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy.
The CPM’s Sujan Chakrabarty said, “The TMC has failed in every field of governance. Now they are confronting the governor to hide their own failure.”