Governor stands by Army remark

KOLKATA: Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi remained unfazed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegation that he spoke “in the voice of Central government” on Saturday. On Sunday, at a book launch, Tripathi said, “I am the voice of my conscience.”
The statement came on a day when the state BJP threatened to move high court against the CM for her “derogatory comments against the Prime Minister and the Army”.
Trinamool on Sunday asked all its Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs to attend Parliament next week.
In the Upper house, party MP Derek O’Brien is likely to release all letters sent by the Kolkata Police and state secretary Basudeb Banerjee denying the Army permission for its December 1-2 exercise. “The Army letters released by MoS, defence, Subhash Bhamre shows the state agencies were only intimated. It sidesteps the core issue that the permission was denied,” an MP argued.
The state BJP hit back. “Since demonetisation, she (Banerjee) has been rattled and has been spreading slander against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. First, she had put forward all sorts of allegations against Modi and then she went on to allege that the Army personnel were illegally collecting money from vehicles at the toll plaza. Tomorrow or the day after, we will file a case against her in Calcutta high court,” said state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.
A six-member BJP delegation comprising Ghosh, state BJP vice-president Jayprakash Majumdar, party state general secretary Debasree Chaudhuri, party state secretary Locket Chatterjee, state BJP VP Chandra Kumar Bose and secretariat member of state BJP Samik Bhattacharya visited Raj Bhawan to hand over a memorandum to the governor complaining that the CM’s comments were unprecedented and had lowered the esteem and prestige of the Army.
“Such fictitious allegations against the Army, which is the pride of our nation, are not only regrettable but also highly obnoxious and is the lowest form of dirty politics,” the memorandum read.
Ghosh said the governor had assured them that he would write to the Union home ministry about it and forward a copy of the memorandum.