KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress is likely to move a motion in the Rajya Sabha against Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in the coming budget session.
The move may not yield any result — the Trinamool has only 13 MPs in the Rajya Sabha — but party seniors say they want the issue of “Raj Bhavan behaving like BJP headquarters” to be discussed nationally. The party will also strongly oppose any proposed amendment to all-India service rules.
Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray proposed on Thursday that the party bring a “substantive motion” against the governor in Parliament. This specific motion allowed an issue to be formally debated in the Rajya Sabha and also had a provision for being put to vote, Trinamool seniors said. Ray’s proposal came during a hybrid meet convened by party chief and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday.
If the Trinamool goes ahead with its decision, it would be only the second time in the last several decades that a Bengal governor has faced such a move. CPI Rajya Sabha MP Bhupesh Gupta had brought a similar motion against then governor Dharma Vira after the political turmoil over the dismissal of the Ajoy Mukherjee-led United Front government in 1967.
Dhankhar assumed charge in Raj Bhavan in July 2019. He has had a rocky relationship with the Trinamool government, repeatedly accusing it of “misrule”; and the Trinamool has constantly accused him of behaving more like a BJP leader than a governor.
Trinamool Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the “governor’s needless meddling” had reached dangerous proportions.
