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Mamata Banerjee sworn in as Bengal CM, Governor points at post-poll violence
Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, whose party could not win a single seat, was at home in Murshidabad district. CPI (M) leader and Left Front chairman Biman Bose too did not attend the meeting.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee took oath as chief minister of West Bengal for the third time at Kolkata’s Raj Bhawan on Wednesday morning but the short 50-minute ceremony was marked by references to post-poll violence by governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and absence of senior leaders from the opposition parties.
For the first time, no Left, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader attended the ceremony.
Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, whose party could not win a single seat, was at home in Murshidabad district. CPI (M) leader and Left Front chairman Biman Bose too did not attend the meeting. The Left parties too scored a nil in the contest. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, whose party is now the principal opposition said, “I stayed away in protest against the attack on our supporters across the state.”
The BJP won 77 out of 292 seats. Polls at two assembly seats in Murshidabad will be held later as two candidates have died of Covid-19 in mid-April.
Banerjee was sworn in by Dhankhar at 10.45 am. The ceremony was followed by a tea session. Other ministers will be sworn in on Thursday by TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee, the protem speaker.
Dhankhar, while delivering a speech after the ceremony, referred to the incidents of violence. “For the sake of people’s interest, we have to rise above partisan interest,” he said.
In her brief speech, Banerjee appealed to all political parties to maintain peace. “No violence will be tolerated. We will take stern action,” she said.
While talking to reporters after the ceremony, Dhankhar indirectly accused the chief minister of not taking any action to stop the violence after poll results were announced on May 2. “Please check the law and find out when the model code of conduct for the elections ended,” he said when he was told that TMC argued that Banerjee could not give orders to government officers as the model code was in force.
“It is unfortunate that within 30 minutes of reading out the oath the governor attacked the government,” said TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee who attended the ceremony.
Banerjee entered Nabanna, the state secretariat in Howrah district, at 11.40 am. Top bureaucrats welcomed her with a guard of honour.
In view of the sharp spike in coronavirus infections in the state, the guest list at Raj Bhawan was kept short and only a handful of elected TMC candidates and prospective members of the upcoming cabinet accompanied Banerjee.
Those who visited Raj Bhawan included Banerjee’s nephew and the party’s youth wing president Abhishek Banerjee and her election strategist Prashant Kishor. Dhankhar was seen interacting with Abhishek Banerjee and Kishor while greeting the guests.
The TMC leadership had also invited CPI(M)’s stalwart Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee but the former chief minister, who is indisposed for a long time, could not leave home.
National leaders who congratulated Banerjee on Twitter included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, NCP president Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, DMK leader M K Stalin, Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, RJD leaders Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav, JKNC vice-president Omar Abdullah and JKPDP president Mehbooba Mufti.
