Amid the ongoing faceoff between Raj Bhavan and Nabanna (State secretariat) Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has directed the State Government to place a White Paper on the State's financial situation.
In a statement issued on Saturday by the Raj Bhavan said that the Governor had asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to enlighten the people on the so-called financial crisis consequent to "public finance management issues, exposing serious lapses on the part of the state government." It was a very "disturbing, shocking, and shattering to see that West Bengal is facing a financial breakdown. Its public finance is in the doldrums," the statement said.
It also said that "considering the grave nature of the economic scenario, the Governor calls upon the CM, under the authority vested in him under Article 167 of the Constitution read with Rule 30 of the Rules of Business for West Bengal framed under Article 166 of the Constitution, to place a comprehensive report on the state's financial situation before the council of ministers and issue a white paper for the information of the people of the state."
The Raj Bhavan statement a day after the Governor filed a defamation case against the Chief Minister at the Calcutta High Court after she allegedly said that some women had complained to her, that they were afraid of visiting the Raj Bhavan because of activities reported there.
The things took an ugly turn after the Governor directed two newly elected MLAs to visit Raj Bhavan for taking oath whereas the Government demanded the Governor to come down to the State Assembly and make them read their oath. The two MLAs including a woman had still not been able to take their oath as the Raj Bhavan had refused to budge from its stand. Incidentally a woman casual worker at Raj Bhavan had before the elections alleged that the Governor had not behaved with her in an appropriate manner.
Referring to the incident TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh on Sunday said that the Raj Bhavan had been converted into a "BJP party office" and the Governor was conducting himself as a "BJP spokesperson."