West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has moved the Calcutta High Court against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, filing a defamation suit against her.
Sources at Raj Bhavan told The Hindu that the Governor has moved the High Court on Friday. The development came a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that women are not feeling safe visiting Raj Bhavan.
Ms. Banerjee made the remarks on the issue relating to swearing in of two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs who refused to go to Raj Bhavan for being administered oath.
“Why must everyone go to Raj Bhavan? The Governor can authorise the Speaker or Deputy Speaker, or attend the Assembly himself. Women have informed me they are not feeling safe to visit Raj Bhavan due to recent incidents reported there,” the Chief Minister had said.
The Governor had responded to the remarks of the Chief Minister by saying that it was expected of public representatives not to create “erroneous and slanderous impressions”.
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Two MLAs, Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Rayat Hossain Sarkar, elected from Baranagar and Bhagwangola Assembly seats in the recently concluded bypolls have been demanding that the Governor should administer oath to them at the State Assembly. The Raj Bhavan had provided an opportunity for the MLAs to be administered oath but the MLAs did not turn up.
What the Chief Minister was alluding to while referring to women feeling scared while visiting Raj Bhavan was in context of allegations of harassment brought by a woman employee on Raj Bhavan against the Governor on May 2.
The Ministers of State government, including the Chief Minister, have refrained from visiting Raj Bhavan since May 2, when the allegations by the Raj Bhavan employee against the Governor became public.
Relations between the Raj Bhawan and West Bengal government have been frosty over the past few years but this is the first time that the Governor has approached the court against the Chief Minister.
