Express News Service
KOLKATA: Reacting to Mamata Banerjee’s threat to stage a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan in protest against the governor’s alleged intervention in the affairs of the state universities, C.V. Ananda Bose, the constitutional head of the state, on Thursday said the West Bengal chief minister can stage demonstration within the premises of the Raj Bhavan and not outside and he would welcome her.
“The chief minister is my honoured colleague. She is welcome to Raj Bhavan. She can come inside Raj Bhavan and stage all her demonstrations here. She can come as the honoured guest of Raj Bhavan to demonstrate here,” said Bose shortly after returning to Kolkata from Delhi.
Two days ago, Mamata lambasted Bose for his decision to appoint interim vice-chancellors for 16 universities in West Bengal without the concurrence of the state government.
The Bengal governor, however, on Thursday made it clear that he would stick to his action. “I will fight till the end to make sure the universities across the state are free from violence and corruption. A 17-year-old student lost his precious life at a university. It cannot continue,” he said.
Bose alleged that the interim vice-chancellors appointed by him are facing tremendous pressure from a section of the state bureaucrats backed by the state government and as a result of which, some of them resigned.
Elaborating on his decision to appoint the interim VCs, the governor said, “This was because the previous vice-chancellors had to resign as per the order of the Supreme Court because they were appointed without following the rules. I did not ask them to resign.
The governor further stated that he did not appoint any candidates nominated by the state as some of them were either involved in corruption or other cases like harassing female students.
Responding to the governor’s statement, TMC’s spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said “It is a scripted drama”.
“The governor is trying to confuse everyone. He is collapsing the education system in the state. This is the real agenda of the BJP. What he told today is a scripted drama,” Ghosh said.
