Guv orders police posting removal from residential & office areas of Raj Bhavan

Kolkata: The tussle between the state and Raj Bhavan took another bitter turn as Governor C V Ananda Bose has decided to remove police postings from the residential and office areas of the Governor House and instead install Central forces, a move that has been criticised by Trinamool Congress (TMC) which warned that the former has no right to waste state funds.

The Governor is learnt to have expressed his objection concerning police posting in the residential and office areas. He has demanded that instead Central forces be stationed in such areas. To execute his decision, he is learnt to have already intimated the Union Home Ministry and the Kolkata Police for doing the needful.

However, it was learnt that Kolkata Police will continue to guard the outdoor areas of Raj Bhavan such as the gates and courtyard. No specific reason was cited by Raj Bhavan as such as to why it wants to remove the police posting from the inner quarters.

Sources said that the decision is likely based on the suspicion that the police are allegedly snooping on the Governor and leaking certain matters outside. Since the Governor is appointed by the Centre, he will likely repose his trust in Central forces, said Raj Bhavan sources.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh is learnt to have remarked that since the Governor is willingly complicating things he is seeing what is not there. Ghosh said several governors before Bose did not have any problem with police posting, including Bose’s predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

TMC MP Santanu Sen told the media that since the BJP-led Central government is determined to remove all remnants of British rule, they should also do away with the post of the Governor. On Central forces posting, Sen remarked that the Governor has no right to waste state government funds.