Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 12: In yet another indication of growing rift between the governor and the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday took an unprecedented move in proroguing the current session of the state Assembly without the recommendation of the state government.
In an apparent tit for tat move by the governor, Dhankhar passed the order to prorogue the House effective Saturday even as the state budget was due to be presented and passed later this month.
The Mamata Banerjee government apparently was looking to continue the winter session to present the budget without requiring to approach the governor to convene the House for the budget session. Under the rules, a session could be kept in suspension for a maximum period of six month and resumed functioning without re-convening.
“In exercise of the powers conferred upon me by Sub-Clause (a) of Clause (2) of Article 174 of the Constitution, I, Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor of the State of West Bengal, hereby prorogue the West Bengal Legislative Assembly with effect from 12 February, 2022,” Dhankhar tweeted. The Governor attached the order signed by him.
The development may result in a constitutional crisis as there was no precedence in the country of any governor having prorogued a state assembly session without the consent of either the speaker of the House or the government. With House prorogued, the government would now have to approach the governor to convene the House for budget and it would have to re-start only with his address, which the TMC government apparently was trying to avoid in view of the continued tussle between the two constitutional offices in the state. The governor’s move comes a day after the TMC Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray submitted a Substantive Motion under Rule 170 in the upper house on Friday urging President Ram Nath Kovind to remove Jagdeep Dhankhar as West Bengal Governor.
The prolonged tussle between the state government and the Raj Bhawan reached a flashpoint after Chief Minister earlier this month blocked the governor on Twitter for purportedly tagging her in all of his posts, criticising her administration. The Governor has been targeting the state government over a host of issues and seeking information and reports regarding appointments to various posts.
Reacting to the Governor’s order, the Trinamool leadership described the development as “unprecedented” and an act with “political motive.” The Budget Session of the Assembly begins with the Governor’s address to the House. If the Assembly session remains suspended, the State Government will not be able to present its Budget, and that will impact the functioning of the Government. Of late, differences between the Governor and West Bengal Assembly Speaker over passage of Bills have also come to fore.
The Governor, however, claimed that his decision came after a recommendation from the state government. “In view of inappropriate reporting in a section of media it is indicated that taking note of government recommendation seeking proroguing of assembly, Guv in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by article 174 (2)(a) the Constitution has prorogued WBLA w.e.f. Feb 12,2022,” he said in another tweet.
The governor’s move come even as the power struggle within the TMC top brass came to the fore forcing Banerjee to convene a meeting of the party leaders at her residence on Saturday to settle the disputes. The party sources indicated of a growing rift between Banerjee and her nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the virtual number two in the party.
The meeting was ostensibly meant to address simmering tensions over Abhishek Banerjee’s push to promote a ‘One Man, One Post’ policy in the party, resented by some of the party’s older guard, some of whom hold multiple posts within the ruling establishment. But many saw it as reflective of the increasing friction between Ms Banerjee and her increasingly ambitious nephew. Caught in the crossfire is I-PAC, the political consultancy group of Prashant Kishor, which has been working with the Trinamool since the West Bengal elections, with Abhishek Banerjee seen as the main liaison between the party and the savvy political consultants. Lately the relations of some of the senior leaders of the party with I-PAC was far from being cordial and there were reports of the TMC dropping Kishor’s organisation as its political advisor.
