West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose’s principal secretary relieved of her duties

Nandini Chakravorty was appointed as principal secretary to governor La Ganesan in August 2022 and she continued in that post after Bose took oath, replacing Ganesan, in November last year

West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose relieved his principal secretary Nandini Chakravorty of her duties as a new team was being constituted, news agency PTI reported on Monday quoting a Raj Bhavan official who was not named.

The governor office said a new team is being formed. (Twitter | Governor of West Bengal)

“Yes, Nandini Chakravorty has been relieved of her duties. The decision was taken on Sunday. A new team is being formed to look after the governor’s office. The team will start working soon,” the official told PTI.

While no Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister commented on the issue, an official at Nabanna, the state secretariat, told HT that no order to recall Chakravorty or assign a new officer was issued by the state till Monday afternoon.

The development comes days after leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, alleged that Chakraborty, a 1994-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the West Bengal cadre, was misguiding the governor at the behest of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

“The governor’s office cannot resemble the chief minister’s secretariat. Nandini Chakravorty was misguiding the governor but the latter is coming back on track. I am hopeful that he will follow path shown by former governors Gopal Krishna Gandhi and Jagdeep Dhankhar to protect democracy,” Adhikari said.

Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “The governor can certainly seek advice from his predecessor and gather information on the ground reality in Bengal.”

Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, who held a two-hour meeting with the governor on Saturday said, “I apprised him about law-and-order situation, illegal appointment of vice-chancellors of state-run universities and several other issues. However, Chakravorty did not figure in our discussion. The decision to relieve her of her duties was taken by the governor.”

Chakravorty was appointed as principal secretary to governor La Ganesan in August 2022. She continued in that post after Bose took oath, replacing Ganesan, in November last year.

Chakravorty could not be contacted for any comment.

TMC Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen alleged that BJP leaders are not being able to accept the present governor and the state government working as a team for state’s betterment.

“The BJP wants to saffronise everything. Time will tell which way things are going,” said Sen.