There will be no let up in the indefinite dharna outside the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata until Governor CV Ananda Bose met the Trinamool Congress delegation against alleged withholding of the MNREGA funds by the Centre, party general secretary Abhsihek Banerjee on Friday said.
Banerjee had started an indefinite sit-in on Thursday outside the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata after a reportedly botched agitation in Delhi, where he went to see the Union Rural Development Minister with a delegation of 2,500 people including a bevy of MPs, MLAs and State ministers and victims of the alleged “central deprivation.”
The Diamond Harbour MP and the number two in the TMC hierarchy reportedly by dint of his being the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said, “I will stay here and won’t move an inch until the Governor meets our delegation and answers our questions” as to why the Centre was withholding the wages that should have been rightfully paid to the poor people who had worked in the 100-days’ work scheme.
“I have tried meeting the governor and sent him multiple mails ... But I was denied an appointment. I will follow the example of my leader Mamata Banerjee and will not leave till I get the answers to my questions,” Banerjee said, alleging the Governor was conducting himself like a Zamindar (land lord).
The Governor also wrote on X, “After raising our voices in Delhi, we seek justice from the ZAMINDARS of BJP! How long will it take for the self-proclaimed custodians of democracy to answer the people? For how long will you keep running away from the people? Clock is ticking. Bengal is waiting.”
The Governor immediately replied back saying “going to zameen (mati) is not zamindari … rather controlling the farmers from the cozy city palaces is neo-zamindari… Going to the villages means going to the Maati that is the grassroots which in Bengali means Trinamool.”
Meanwhile, in a related development the Raj Bhavan suffered a blow in the Governor-State Government tug of war regarding the appointment of university vice chancellors with the Supreme Court on Friday stopping Bose from appointing V-Cs at will.
Expressing discontent over the interim appointment of VCs by the Governor the Apex Court restrained the Governor from making further appointments adding interim VCs will not be entitled to any perks.
The Governor had in the past several weeks used his discretionary powers to appoint at least four VCs, some from IAS and IPS cadre even from outside States allegedly breaking the UGC norms.
The State Government protested such “arbitrary decisions of the Governor” and moved the Supreme Court which led to Friday’s order. The Apex Court had earlier ruled in favour of appointing search committees for selecting Vice Chancellors.