Guv’s remarks puts him on collision course with TMC

The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal appears to be on a collision course with Governor M K Narayanan over his remarks on the recent CPM-TMC clashes in the state. Narayanan had on Wednesday night said that "goondaism" was taking place in the state.

"This has nothing to do with political culture. I think some sort of goondaism is going on here," the PTI quoted him as saying. He had also asked the police to work impartially.

But on Thursday Minister for Panchayats and Rural Development Subrata Mukherjee dared the Governor to dismiss the government and even "censured" him. "We are borrowing the word from the CPM and censuring him. We are keeping a watch on the entire situation. We are showing him the yellow card now. If he doesn't not restrain himself, we will show him the red card. Why doesn't he sack this government then?" he said.

Mukherjee said Narayanan should have asked for reports on the violence from officials. "What he said is unbecoming of a Governor. He should not have gone to the press. He singled out one stray incident and made a disparaging remark," he said.

Noting that Narayanan was appointed by the Congress as the Constitutional head of the state, he said, "He was an IPS officer and he should know his limits. It is sending confusing signals to the people who might think that he is doing this because he was selected by the Congress. Had he been elected by people like we are, he would have stayed in a small house, not at a Bungalow where he is staying now," the minister said.

But the Minister for Commerce and Industries, Partha Chatterjee, tried to gloss over the issue when he met Narayanan in the morning to invite him to preside over the closing ceremony of Bengal Leads, the industrial summit organised by the government at Haldia.

... contd.

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