KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday slammed incoming Governor R N Ravi, a retired IPS officer, terming him a "BJP cadre" and virtually signalling an escalating face off between the state secretariat Nabanna and Lok Bhavan, the erstwhile Raj Bhavan, in the coming days.
On the second day of her ongoing sit in demonstration programme at the Esplanade Metro Channel in the city since Friday, held to protest against the deletion of around 64 lakh voters from the final list after the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, the CM addressed party supporters.
She claimed that the sudden resignation of C V Ananda Bose as Governor of West Bengal was the result of pressure allegedly created by the BJP led government at the Centre.
Addressing supporters of her party Trinamool Congress at the dharna site, Mamata accused the Centre of attempting to convert Lok Bhavan into a political outpost in the run up to the Assembly elections scheduled in the state in April.
"Do you know how C V Ananda Bose was removed? I know everything. He was threatened. They want to distribute money from Lok Bhavan. They want Lok Bhavan to be converted into a BJP party office. But everybody may not agree to such whims and fancies of Delhi," she alleged, while attacking the incoming Governor and saying, “Remember that Bengal is a tough turf.”
Referring to Tamil Nadu, where Ravi is also the existing Governor, Mamata alleged, “He has also disturbed the Chief Minister Stalin there. The newcomer is a BJP cadre who has undergone parades conducted by the party.”
Ravi is a retired IPS officer of the 1976 batch of the Bihar cadre and has held several important positions in the Central Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during his professional career.
He had also worked as a deputy to the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The sudden resignation of Bose and the appointment of Ravi as the constitutional head of Bengal, particularly ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in the state, have prompted the leadership of the ruling party to intensify its attacks on the BJP for allegedly masterminding the removal of the former from Lok Bhavan in Kolkata.
Expressing serious concern over Bose’s resignation, Mamata wrote on social media on Wednesday, “I am shocked and deeply concerned by the sudden news of the resignation of Shri C. V. Ananda Bose, the Governor of West Bengal. The reasons behind his resignation are not known to me at this moment. However, given the prevailing circumstances, I would not be surprised if the Governor has been subjected to some pressure from the Union Home Minister to serve certain political interests on the eve of the forthcoming State Assembly elections.”
“Union Home Minister just informed me that Shri R.N. Ravi is being appointed as Governor of West Bengal. He never consulted with me as per the established convention in this regard. Such actions undermine the spirit of the Constitution of India and strike at the very foundation of our federal structure. The Centre must respect the principles of cooperative federalism and refrain from taking unilateral decisions that erode democratic conventions and the dignity of States,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, keeping an eye on the upcoming Assembly polls, Mamata announced that unemployed youths aged between 21 and 41 years who have passed the state board organised Madhyamik examination would receive a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 under the ‘Yuva Sathi’ scheme with effect from Saturday, though the state government had earlier decided to credit the money to beneficiaries’ bank accounts from April.
Nearly one crore beneficiaries have applied for the allowance.
