TMC TARGETS DHANKHAR OVER PROSECUTION SANCTION

KOLKATA: The role of governor Jagdeep Dhankhar came into question as West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) faced a new crisis on Monday following the arrest of two of its heavyweight ministers and a prominent legislator in connection with the Narada sting operation, with the former coming in for criticism from political circles.

On May 9, Raj Bhawan said in a statement that the governor had accorded prosecution sanction to the CBI against three TMC MLAs, Madan Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, and former party leader Sovan Chatterjee. A controversy has broken out over the governor using the interregnum between two governments to accord his consent; in the normal course of events this consent would have been needed from the speaker of the assembly. “The CBI has to seek sanction from the assembly speaker to file a charge sheet against a member of the House. I do not know under which provision and with what intention the governor gave such a clearance to the CBI. I was completely bypassed,” Bengal assembly speaker Biman Banerjee told HT.

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and noted lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: “Why is the TMC blaming the governor? This is a legal issue and the probe was ordered by the Calcutta HC and SC. However, the governor’s recent activities and statements show that he is acting in a partisan manner.” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “He came to Bengal as an agent of the BJP. It has been proved once again.” Bengal BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu, however, said the governor acted in accordance with the law.