West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (Photo Credit: File Image)
New Delhi:
The Congress and CPI(M) on Tuesday called on West Bengal governor to discuss a bill - which is pending with him - and slammed the ruling Trinamool Congress for not replying to the queries of Jagdeep Dhankhar saying due respect should be given to a constitutional position. State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said representatives of the government would meet Dhankhar only after he releases the files pending with him. Following a discussion with the governor matters of a Bill that seeks to check incidents of mob assault and lynching in the state, the Congress and the CPI(M) alleged that the TMC dispensation has kept both the governor and the Opposition in the dark over the Bill.
The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 is waiting for the governor's nod after it was passed by the Assembly on August 30 last year. Dhankhar has been saying replies to his queries on it were not given by the government.
Dhankhar had invited the leader of opposition in the Assembly Abdul Mannan of the Congress and CPI(M) legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty to discuss matters relating to the Bill. "Just as we feel that adverse comments in the House against the governor is objectionable, we also feel that not giving answers to queries by him is also objectionable," the Congress leader said.
There are some procedural and technical glitches in the Bill which will not pass the scrutiny of a court of law, Mannan said after the two, along with CPI MLA Ashok Dinda, held a meeting with Dhankar at the Raj Bhavan. "The government would not have fallen had the TMC admitted its errors pointed out by us and corrected them," Mannan said claiming that the Mamata Banerjee regime is averse to any suggestion made by the opposition.
CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty alleged that the government side is keeping the House in the dark over the Bill, and claimed that they had repeatedly told the ruling party leaders that there are technical flaws in the Bill. "We (the Left) think that the position of a governor is not necessary, but since it is there in the Constitution, respect should be given to the position by both the government and the person holding it," the CPI(M) legislature party leader said, in a reference to the ongoing feud between Dhankar and the Mamata Banerjee dispensation.
On the visit of Mannan and Chakraborty to Raj Bhawan, TMC minister Chatterjee said one of the functions of Opposition parties is to meet the governor and so they have gone. "It is our stand that we will not go. There are several files pending (with Dhankhar), let him first release them," Chatterjee said, when asked why the TMC did not attend the meeting called by the Governor.
The governor had invited West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for a meeting to discuss issues pertaining to the pending Bills on January 17 but she did not attend it owing to "preoccupations".
Claiming that state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and a top RSS leader are meeting Dhankhar regularly, he said, "It is not our lookout whom he invites." Dhankhar has been engaged in a face-off with Banerjee and her party, the Trinamool Congress, over a host of issues since assuming charge as the governor of the state.
CPI(M) leader Chakraborty claimed that differences between the governor and the TMC regime were taking the centre stage, putting major issues like job creation and other requirements of the people in the back burner. He said they did not discuss with the governor another Bill that will pave the way for setting up an SC/ST commission in the state, since it has not yet been tabled in the House.
