Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee calls Jagdeep Dhankhar ‘corrupt’, guv hits back
“The governor’s name cropped up in the Jain hawala case. They had gone to court and got the name cleared. But again, a PIL was filed, and it is still pending. I am sorry to say he is a corrupt man,” Banerjee said, while speaking to the media at the state secretariat.
The acrimonious relations between West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Trinamool Congress-led state government hit a new low on Monday, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that Dhankhar was an accused in the 1996 Jain hawala case and branding him a “corrupt man”.
“The governor’s name cropped up in the Jain hawala case. They had gone to court and got the name cleared. But again, a PIL was filed, and it is still pending. I am sorry to say he is a corrupt man,” Banerjee said, while speaking to the media at the state secretariat.
Banerjee said she had written letters to the Centre on three occasions to relieve Dhankhar of the post.
“If the Centre is not aware then I am telling. Bring out the charge sheet and check whether his name was there or not. Why is the Centre allowing a man like this to continue as the governor?” she said.
Earlier in the day, Dhankhar, who was on a weeklong tour of Darjeeling, alleged that there was corruption in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the semi-autonomous body that manages Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills in north Bengal.
“The governor is deliberately trying to disturb the peaceful situation in north Bengal and hence he met those people who are in favour of dividing north Bengal. He told them to stage a revolt. Is it the job of the governor?” Banerjee said.
On Saturday, the governor tweeted that there had been no election and audit in GTA since 2017.
“The governor has raised some serious allegations against GTA. Cases may continue in the court. But are the chief minister’s today’s allegations answers to the questions raised by the governor? Is she trying to say that because the governor’s name is in the Jain hawala case, there can be corruption in GTA? Is she justifying this?” said Jay Prakash Majumdar, vice-president of the BJP in West Bengal.
“I have not been charge-sheeted. There is no such document. This is far from facts. This is plain and simple untruth, misinformation. I have not taken any stay from any court,” said Dhankhar.
