Bengal Governor orders FIR against Trinamool’s Kalyan Banerjee over Raj Bhavan weapon remarks

Kolkata: The office of the West Bengal Governor, C.V. Ananda Bose, had directed the Kolkata Police to start an investigation into the allegations made by the four-time Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member, Kalyan Banerjee’ that arms and ammunition were being distributed from the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata by registering a first information report (FIR) in the matter.

An insider from Raj Bhavan said the Governor’s office had also cautioned the city police authorities that action under the Governor’s powers would be taken in case of non-compliance with the order to initiate an investigation into the matter by registering an FIR.

At the same time, the insider added, the Governor is also consulting legal experts on possible actions that could be taken by his office on the matter, including approaching the Lok Sabha Secretariat for action against Banerjee for his controversial comments.

On Sunday morning, the Governor described the allegation floated by Banerjee as “inflammatory, explosive and irresponsible” and also cautioned of strong legal actions on his part. He also demanded an unconditional apology from Kalyan Banerjee if his allegations made publicly are untrue.

However, the strong note of caution from the government could not stop Banerjee from continuing with his jibes. “If necessary, I will also file a counter suit and fight it out till the Supreme Court level. At the same time, I am challenging the government to appear in an open forum where I will also be present,” Banerjee said.

On Saturday, while interacting with the media persons, Kalyan Banerjee alleged that the Raj Bhavan was giving shelter to “criminals” of the BJP.

The Trinamool MP also claimed that the Governor should first stop giving shelter to criminals and distributing arms and ammunition to them to kill Trinamool Congress workers. “As long as an incompetent Governor like you remains, as long as a BJP-servant Governor remains, you will never see anything good happening in West Bengal,” Kalyan Banerjee said on Saturday.

On Saturday, Banerjee also made a controversial statement about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, linking the latter with the car explosion in New Delhi last week, killing 12 people.

While speaking to the media persons, Banerjee said the blast was conducted deliberately just a day before the second phase of the Bihar Assembly polls, just to create a sympathy wave in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and directly accused the Prime Minister of “masterminding that conspiracy”.

IANS