Guv slams Didi, says her TMC men named in chargesheet
The mudslinging between Raj Bhavan and Nabanna (State secretariat) hit a new low with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday calling Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar a “corrupt man” alleging that his name had figured in the Jain hawala scam.
Hours later, the Bengal Governor refuted the charges saying he had nothing to do with the scam and that he never had to move the court on the issue.
He added that the names of her own party colleague and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha and late Trinamool Congress leader Ajit Panja were indeed in the charge sheet though they were acquitted in the case.
The Chief Minister’s allegations came hours after Dhankhar raised a demand for an audit by Comptroller and Auditor General into the financial affairs of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. He said “thousands of crores of taxpayers money have not been accounted for” and hence he as the Governor of the State was “empowered to order an audit” into GTA finances.
Mamata said, “Though I feel bad saying this, he is a corrupt person… the Governor was named in the 1996 Jain hawala case. I am sorry to say, but he is a corrupt man. Why did the Central Government allow such a person to become a Governor? If the Centre does not know it, then I am telling them. Check the chargesheet, you will know if he was named or not.”
Mamata further said, “He (Governor) later appeared in the court and got his name cleared and later on a fresh writ or PIL was filed and the matter is still pending... I have already written to the Centre three times seeking his withdrawal from Bengal.”
Referring to his north Bengal visit, the CM said the Governor was trying to create disturbance in the State by encouraging divisive elements.
“He is intentionally trying to disturb north Bengal… he went there and spoke to people who believe in dividing the State,” the Bengal CM said questioning the timing of his visit to that part of the State.
On his repeated complaints of violence in the State, the Chief Minister said that the Governor broke all the protocols of pandemic by meeting
trucks load of people in North Bengal and generated tones of lies about so-called violence.
“There may a couple of genuine cases but here he was speaking to trucks load of people who were specially taken by the BJP to meet him by breaking all the pandemic laws and in order to create tension,” Mamata said.