West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed shock over the resignation of Governor CV Ananda Bose and said she would not be surprised if Union Home Minister Amit Shah puts pressure behind the change in the governor’s post before the Assembly elections.
In response to this development, Banerjee said that the reasons behind Bose’s resignation were not known to her, but she indicated that this move could be linked to political interests.
“I am shocked and deeply concerned at the sudden news of the resignation of Shri C.V. Ananda Bose, Governor of West Bengal,” she wrote, adding that given the prevailing circumstances, she would not be surprised if the Governor came under pressure from the Union Home Minister “to serve certain political interests on the eve of the upcoming state assembly elections.”
Banerjee also said that Shah “just informed” her of the decision and she was not consulted, describing it as a departure from established norms.
Such actions undermine the spirit of the Constitution and strike at the foundation of India’s federal structure, she said, adding that the Center must respect the principles of cooperative federalism and refrain from unilateral decisions that erode democratic conventions and the dignity of the states.
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The Governor of West Bengal resigned
The reaction came after President Draupadi Murmu on Thursday evening reshuffled his cabinet in nine districts, appointing former diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu as the new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and shifting RN Ravi from Tamil Nadu to West Bengal.
Ravi will replace CV Ananda Bose, whose resignation has been accepted by the President, according to a statement issued by her office.
The former Tamil Nadu governor is moving to West Bengal just weeks before the state Assembly elections, with the current Assembly term set to end on May 7. During his tenure in Tamil Nadu, Ravi repeatedly clashed with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government and faced criticism for allegedly sitting on bills, refusing to read from the text prepared by the state government during Assembly sessions, and getting involved in several controversies.
Read also | Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose resigns after less than 4 years in office, Mamata drops hint to succeed him
A change in the governors of several states
In other changes, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena has been appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, while Ladakh’s incumbent LG Kavinder Gupta has been transferred to Himachal Pradesh.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu, former Indian ambassador to the US, has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar as the party’s candidate. His appointment in the national capital comes a year after the BJP won the Delhi Assembly elections.
