After repeated face-offs with Raj Bhavan, the Trinamool Congress has lodged a complaint with Union Home Minister Amit Shah drawing his attention towards “misuse and mishandling” of his office by Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar who is “running a parallel Government in the State flouting federal norms” and taking no note of objections raised by the Mamata Banerjee administration.
Senior TMC leader and MP Sudip Bandopadhyay has told Shah how Dhankhar had been running a parallel administration in the State disregarding norms of parliamentary democracy. “I have told Home Minister Amit Shah about how the honourable Governor had been running a Government breaking all the norms of parliamentary democracy,” Bandopadhyay said on Sunday.
“I have told him that there is no harm if he wants to tour the State but he should do so by informing and taking the State Government into confidence,” the TMC MP added informing how the Governor had been taking arbitrary administrative tours to district headquarters keeping the Government in the dark.
Bandopadhyay requested Shah to summon the Governor and give him necessary directions. “I have requested the Home Minister to call the Governor and give him directions in this regard so as to avoid future misunderstanding” between the Raj Bhavan and Nabanna (State secretariat).
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has directed the TMC MPs to raise the issue in Lok Sabha during the Winter Session of Parliament.
The issue was also discussed in the all-party meeting he said adding the conduct of the Governor and norms regarding that should be discussed in the floor of the House. “It is perhaps for the first time in the history of Bengal that a Governor was conducting himself in this fashion subverting the norms of parliamentary democracy,” Bandopadhyay said.
Earlier the Chief Minister too attacked the Governor on Thursday without referring to him directly though and said, “I generally do not say anything on constitutional posts but there are some people who are behaving just like BJP’s mouthpieces,” adding, “they (the Governor) are running parallel administration in the State.”
Giving his reactions the Governor said he as the guardian of the Government knew his limitations and would never cross his limits. “I should remind from here that neither the Governor nor the Chief Minister should cross their respective Laxman Rekha (limits),’ he said wondering about the reasons why the ruling party was charging him with running parallel administration.
“Here they say that I have been running a parallel administration but in the last fifty days of my joining the office I have never seen the face of the Chief Secretary. If that be so then how am I learning a parallel administration,” the Governor said.