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Bengal governor to address House today: Speaker
The speaker, however, remained non-committal on whether he would allow a live telecast of the event as requested by the governor.
West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday will address the legislative assembly and inaugurate the budget session, speaker Biman Banerjee said on Sunday.
The speaker, however, remained non-committal on whether he would allow a live telecast of the event as requested by the governor.
“The governor will deliver the inaugural address following convention,” Banerjee, who held an hour-long interaction with the governor, said while leaving Raj Bhavan.
Asked whether he would allow a live telecast, he said, “You will see what happens tomorrow. I will not comment now.”
The speaker’s remarks came weeks after the governor took strong exception to an alleged media blackout of his address twice in the state legislative assembly and had warned Banerjee of legal actions if such an incident was repeated.
The incident on January 25 took place when Dhankhar visited the assembly to pay floral tributes at the statue of B R Ambedkar in the premises, on the occasion of National Voters’ Day and on the eve of Republic Day.
The speaker, however, claimed that the governor had tried to make “critical statements on several issues” and that it was “extremely uncourteous” of the latter to make them after paying floral tributes to Ambedkar.
The remarks also came amid the acrimonious relationship between the governor and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
On Sunday, the governor invited the speaker to Raj Bhavan for a discussion on ensuring “sanctity” of House proceedings, while pointing out that “live coverage” of his address was “blacked out” on earlier occasions.
Dhankar and Banerjee’s meeting also came amid speculations that the Trinamool Congress government would follow the Telangana government, by not inviting the governor to address the assembly.
“There was interaction at Raj Bhawan today between Governor and Assembly Speaker for an hour regarding the upcoming assembly session,” Dhankhar tweeted, without saying anything about the live coverage.
The budget session of Telengana assembly is also set to begin on Monday. Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Saturday criticised the Telangana Rashtra Samithi-led government for not following the convention of starting the budget session of the legislative assembly with the governor’s address. The state government justified the move by saying that it was not a new session of the year, but was only a continuation of the earlier session.
