With Bonhomie Between Bengal Governor And Chief Minister Getting Over, Will The State Witness Season Two Of Raj Bhaban-Nabanna Clash?

The bonhomie between Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee not only seems to be over, but the two also appear to be headed for a clash. 

Bose, who took up residence at Kolkata’s gubernatorial manor in late November last year, raised eyebrows and created a lot of discomfiture with his unbecoming cordiality with the Chief Minister.

Coming on the heels of the tumultuous ties between the Raj Bhaban and Nabanna (the state secretariat) during the three-year tenure of Jagdeep Dhankar, it appeared that Bose was determined to more than make up for the bad blood between his predecessor and Banerjee. 

But a course-correction, reportedly at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was effected recently (read this). The first indication of this came on Sunday (12 February) with Bose showing the door to his principal secretary Nandini Chakravorty. 

Chakravorty, a senior IAS officer, is known to be close to Banerjee and had allegedly been misleading the Governor on a number of issues. The 1994 batch IAS officer is also believed to have spread rumours about Bose trying to engage officers of the CBI and other agencies as his advisors. 

Governor Writes Stern Letter To Chief Minister

But that was not the end of the matter. Governor Bose is learnt to have written to the Chief Minister on Thursday (16 February) complaining that Chakravorty attended office in the Raj Bhaban even after being relieved of her duties. 

Bose is reportedly incensed with Chakravorty’s behaviour and open defiance of the Governor.

“Propriety demanded that she (Chakravorty) stop coming to the office of the Governor’s principal secretary (the post she occupied) immediately after she was relieved from her duties. But she was seen in her office a few times and even reportedly passed instructions to Raj Bhaban staff. The Governor has taken strong exception to this,” a Raj Bhaban official told Swarajya. 

Bose wrote a stern letter to Chief Minister Banerjee on Thursday emphasising the need for the state government to “observe constitutional proprieties”.

Bose urged the Chief Minister to conduct an enquiry into the “grave lapses” committed by Chakravorty. 

Sources in the Raj Bhaban said that the Governor has engaged a writer to author a book on his (Bose’s) works in various fields. The writer met the Governor at the Raj Bhaban some time ago to discuss the book.

During that discussion, Bose suggested that a consultant be appointed to help the writer, and the name of an IPS officer who knows Bose very well came up. 

Nandini Chakravorty, the Governor claims, deliberately misconstrued this and misreported to Nabanna that the Governor was planning to appoint an IPS officer from another state cadre as his adviser.

Bose felt that Chakravorty played that mischief intentionally in order to create a grave misunderstanding between the Raj Bhaban and Nabanna. 

Bose met Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi at the Raj Bhaban on Tuesday (14 February) evening and apprised him about Chakravorty’s ‘misdeeds’. So angry was Bose that he cancelled all recent orders and directives passed by Chakravorty. 

The issue of Chakravorty’s successor also came up during the meeting with the chief secretary. The Governor is learnt to have told the chief secretary that he will choose his own team. He indicated that he may not go by the state government’s suggestions. 

Chakravorty has since been reappointed as principal secretary in the tourism department, a post she held before she was posted to the Raj Bhaban in August last year. 

The state government has suggested a panel of three names to the Governor for the post of his principal secretary: S Suresh Kumar (who is the additional chief secretary, power), Subrata Gupta (additional chief secretary, food processing and horticulture) and Anil Verma (chairman, West Bengal Valuation Board). 

If the Governor does not go by the state government’s suggestion, as is the convention, he will anger Banerjee. 

A Bigger Battle Looms Large Over Governor’s Proposed Advisory Councils

But a bigger battle between the Raj Bhaban and Nabanna is looming large.

The Governor had, last month, informed Nabanna that he would like to constitute three committees — a Governor’s Advisory Council, a Governor’s Experts Committee and a Governor’s Resource Group — to help him carry out his constitutionally-mandated duties. 

The Governor also suggested a few names for these three bodies.

Among the names suggested by Bose are those of two of his batchmates in the IAS — M Sheela Priya and Joy Oommen.

M Sheela Priya, a 1977-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, served as principal secretary to five Governors of Tamil Nadu and was also secretary to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. 

Oommen served as the chief secretary of Chhattisgarh. Bose wants M Sheela Priya to head the Governor’s Experts Committee.

Among the names suggested for the Governor’s Advisory Council is that of P G Ramakrishna Pillai, a cardiologist at the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences at Thiruvananthapuram. 

Bose also wants T R Keshavan, the president of the private sector Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), the third largest tractor manufacturer in the world, in his experts committee.

Another name he suggested for the experts committee was that of management guru V K Madhav Mohan. Bose wants Mohan designated as ‘Chief of Team — Ideation & Operation’. 

Banerjee’s Misgivings Over ‘Parallel Government’ In Raj Bhaban

The Governor’s proposal has sent alarm bells ringing in the state government. Senior bureaucrats fear that the Governor is trying to set up a parallel government. Even Banerjee has privately expressed her misgivings over the Governor’s proposals and has asked the chief secretary to sit on them. 

So far, the state government has not responded formally to the Governor’s proposals.

“We are studying the proposals. There are two aspects to it — one is the financial implication and the other is what roles these committees will play,” a senior IAS officer who is close to the Chief Minister told Swarajya. 

The Chief Minister and her bureaucrats are apprehensive of the Governor’s proposals.

“What he (Bose) suggested is most unusual and we are not sure if the Constitution allows a Governor to have such committees to advise him. A Governor has to go by the advice of the state government and such committees may be redundant,” said the officer. 

The state government is also worried over the names sent by the Governor for the committees.

“State government officials will have to defer to the two retired bureaucrats (M Sheela Priya and Joy Oommen) who the Governor wants in his proposed committees. They (the two) occupied top posts and are very senior, so serving bureaucrats will have to oblige them as is the norm. So they can become extra-constitutional authorities. The other persons (suggested by the Governor) are all eminent people in their respective fields and, naturally, they will exert a lot of clout. The Raj Bhaban will emerge as a parallel power centre,” the officer said. 

The Chief Minister, who concentrates all powers in her hands and is dictatorial by nature, will never allow that.

But the Governor, it is learnt, is quite insistent on constituting the three committees and having his way with the appointments. That will set him on a collision course with the Chief Minister very soon. 

Governor Bose is learnt to have told the chief secretary that there is a clear precedent in the Kolkata Raj Bhaban about appointment of persons from outside the state government as officers-on-special duty (OSDs).

Governors of many other states also have OSDs and advisers of their choice. 

Bose has told the chief secretary that the committees will only have an advisory role and will report only to him. The committees will not interact directly with the state government. The Governor will examine their recommendations on various subjects and issues and pass on those that he deems fit to the state government.

But this clarification has not laid to rest the state government’s misgivings. Chief Secretary Dwivedi reportedly tried to obliquely dissuade the Governor from insisting on a response to his proposals. But the Governor reportedly remains firm. 

Sparks may, thus, soon start flying between the Raj Bhaban that sits pretty on the northern banks of the Hooghly and Nabanna on the south bank. And that will mark the beginning of season 2 of the fiery Governor-Chief Minister saga that used to make regular headlines in the past.  

Also read: 'Course Correction' In Kolkata? Why Bengal Governor May No Longer Go Overboard In His Praise Of Mamata Banerjee 

"Pursuit Of Excellence In Literature, Painting And Poetry": Bengal Governor's Glorification Of Mamata Banerjee Draws Disdain 

Why Bengal Governor’s Show Of Bonhomie With Mamata Banerjee Is Wrong, As Is Bengal BJP’s Public Criticism Of The Governor