Involved in an ongoing tussle with the ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal over an abrupt two-day adjournment of the assembly, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said that he would visit the House on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the governor said that he had written to Speaker Biman Banerjee and would be going to the assembly to look into its facilities and also visit the library. Earlier in the day, he took a dig at the ruling party, which blamed him for delaying clearance of pending bills leading to the adjournment. Dhankhar said he was following the Constitution and was not a “rubber stamp”.
The alleged acrimony between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the governor hit a new low after the speaker adjourned the House on Tuesday as bills slated to be placed in the assembly were yet to get his nod.
The claim was refuted by the Raj Bhavan, which in a statement, called the situation “factually untenable”.
“As the Governor I follow the script and tune of the Constitution and cannot blindly take a call. I am neither a rubber stamp nor a post office,” Dhankhar said in a tweet. “I am obligated to scrutinize the bills in the light of the Constitution and act without delay. Concerned at delay by government on this,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“As the Governor I follow the script and tune of the Constitution and cannot blindly take a call. I am neither a rubber stamp nor a post office,” Dhankhar said in a tweet. “I am obligated to scrutinize the bills in the light of the Constitution and act without delay. Concerned at delay by government on this,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}The Trinamool Congress slammed Dhankhar and said the governor was acting like an “opposition party”.
The House will remain adjourned till December 5 and the Winter Session will resume on December 6 at 11 am, it was announced.
The bills which were scheduled to be placed won’t be tabled as they are yet to receive the nod of the governor, the speaker had said in the Assembly.
“We had sent those bills for printing but can’t place them in the Assembly as they are yet to get approval,” he had said.
Since assuming charge in July, the governor has been at loggerheads with Mamata Banerjee’s government over a number of issues -- ranging from seating arrangement at the Durga Puja carnival to his unscheduled visit to Singur.
Further, none of the senior state officials attended the meetings convened by the governor during his visit to North and South 24 Parganas districts.