New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Wednesday that the recently-inaugurated “anti-corruption cell” in Raj bhavan was an attempt by Governor C.V. Ananda Bose to “unnecessarily interfere” in the state’s matters.
Banerjee said the Governor, with whom the state government has a rather contentious relationship, was working under the BJP’s instructions.
“Even if a small event takes place in Bengal – that too due to the provocation by the BJP – you send a central team to defame Bengal. But if anything happens in their state, everybody is pardoned… they released Bilkis Bano’s perpetrators,” Banerjee said.
#WATCH | West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee says, "…Even if a small matter in Bengal exists, that too due to BJP's provocation and atrocities – they hire goons from outside and prepare a gameplan – you send a Central team for Bengal to defame it…But when something happens in… pic.twitter.com/GOvQAvhEP6
— ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2023
Earlier in the day, Governor Bose inaugurated the “anti-corruption cell” at the Raj Bhavan here, and said this would help common people forward their complaints to competent authorities.
To the ruling Trinamool Congress’ charge that the initiative was an intrusion into the day-to-day affairs of the state government, Bose said the cell would not infringe on other people’s turf.
He said: “With this anti-corruption cell, we are trying to give voice to the voiceless. In days of violence, the Raj Bhavan is trying to be a friend of the ‘unfriended’ poor. When the ‘Peace Room’ was set up, there were apprehensions. What did the ‘Peace Room’ achieve? We will not try to infringe on the turf of others. There is something called the ‘Lakshman Rekha’. We will certainly try to confine ourselves within the Lakshman Rekha.”
Anyone who comes across corruption can report it to the anti-corruption cell, Bose said. “We will take it up with the competent authorities,” he added.
He said his “constitutional colleague” Mamata Banerjee had urged people in a rally not to bribe anyone. “She asked people to take a photo of whoever demanded money and send it to her. This is precisely what we are trying to implement. That is what we are going to do,” Bose said.
The governor had previously opened a “Peace Room” at the Raj Bhavan to address violence-related complaints from people in districts during the recently-held panchayat elections.
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