BJP stages walkout amid ‘misguided’ Guv's first address to Bengal assembly

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Wednesday addressed the assembly for the first time amid protests and walkout by BJP MLAs who claimed that he was misguided by the TMC government and he should follow the footsteps of "other governors".

The BJP legislators shouted slogans against the “corrupt” Mamata Banerjee government which, they alleged, prepared a speech for Bose that "has no relation with reality".

Accusing the BJP of trying to disturb the assembly proceedings, the Trinamool Congress said Bose is functioning as per norms.

The relationship between the TMC government and the present governor is cordial, which is in sharp contrast to what the state has witnessed during the tenure of his predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar whom the ruling party used to describe as a “BJP agent”.

Dhankhar resigned as West Bengal governor in July 2022 and was elected the Vice President of the country the next month. Bose took oath as the state governor in November last year.

A few minutes after Bose began his address to the House ahead of the presentation of the state budget next week, BJP MLAs led by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari started shouting slogans against the state government.

"The governor’s speech has no relation with reality. This is one of the most corrupt governments in the state. We staged a walkout as there is no mention of corruption cases and arrest of TMC leaders in the speech," Adhikari said.

BJP MLAs tore copies of the speech on the floor of the House and even shouted slogans against the Governor.

"The state government is misguiding the Governor. They are providing false data, and the Governor is reading it. I think the Governor should follow the footsteps of other governors," he said.

Senior TMC minister Firhad Hakim said the opposition leader had forgotten the decorum that the Governor cannot be criticised for his address.

"Earlier, the BJP had turned the Raj Bhawan into its party office. If the present Governor is working as per norms, what is the problem? He thinks every Governor will work as a flag bearer of the BJP," he said.

TMC chief whip Nirmal Ghosh accused the BJP of trying to disturb the assembly proceedings.

Dhankhar's acrimonious relationship with the state government made regular headlines as the TMC charged the Governor with acting as an "agent of the BJP", while he accused the state government of not functioning as per constitutional norms.

Last year's budget session witnessed high drama on the first day as the then Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar ran into a stormy protest by BJP MLAs, forcing him just to lay his speech and leave the House.

On the last day of the Budget session, the legislators of the TMC and the BJP also engaged in fisticuffs, leading to the hospitalisation of several MLAs after heated arguments over killings at Bogtui village in Birbhum district in an arson.

At least ten people were killed in the arson and violence that followed the murder of a local TMC leader. The CBI is probing the case on the orders of the Calcutta High Court.