KOLKATA/KANTHI: Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Monday wrote to governor C V Ananda Bose, urging strong action against minister of state for correctional homes Akhil Giri for “badmouthing” persons holding high constitutional offices, including the President.
Adhikari uploaded the contents of his letter along with a video on X that showed TMC leader Giri speaking at a public programme.
In the clip, which has not been verified by TOI, Giri is heard saying: “Don’t we know what West Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose has been doing? Don’t we know why he went to inaugurate the Durga Puja organised by Kunal Ghosh? We will reveal the scandal. It’s all there on WhatsApp.”
The minister went on: “We know why you (governor) invited the CM on November 10 for discussions on 100-day work. We won’t spare you. We also have IB (intelligence agency) in West Bengal. We have the files ready.”
Adhikari wanted the governor to make a strong recommendation for Giri’s expulsion for his “scandalous” comments, purportedly at a public rally on November 4. Giri is a three-time Trinamool MLA from East Midnapore’s Ramnagar.
Adhikari wrote that the junior minister “seems to have got into the habit of badmouthing important persons occupying high offices”. The BJP leader mentioned how Giri had stirred up a controversy by making derogatory remarks on President Droupadi Murmu in 2022. Adhikari held that Giri had said “the governor paid a visit to (Ghosh’s) Durga Puja” because “there is something scandalous against you in his (Ghosh’s) WhatsApp”.
Adhikari also wrote about Giri saying that the governor invited the Bengal CM for talks on NREGS because he “has been coerced to do so due to certain information on WhatsApp”.
In a strong reaction, State minister Shashi Panja responding to the accusations said, "When the LoP uses derogatory language against the only sitting woman Chief Minister calling her “Khala & Begum” and demeans Tribal Minister Birbaha Hansda saying she “deserves to remain beneath his foot”, what action is taken against him? Leader of Opposition does not have the moral right to raise these issues. Just a couple of days ago, Suvendu claimed that Akhil Giri and his son had been given an IT notice. Someone whose entire political narrative, since joining the BJP to save his own back, revolves around actions by ED and CBI, should be the last to comment on vendetta politics and ethics."
Governor Bose when asked about it on Tuesday at a Vidyasagar University programme, refused to react. "This is Vidyasagar University, let’s talk only of Vidya (education)."
