Raj Bhavan row: Adhikari welcomes FIR against TMC MP, urges Bengal governor to pursue case

Kolkata, Nov 19 (PTI) Leader of Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, on Wednesday welcomed Governor C V Ananda Bose's move to lodge an FIR against Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee over his comments alleging stockpiling of explosives at Raj Bhavan, and said the governor should pursue the case.

Speaking to reporters at the BJP office here, Adhikari said if no action is taken by police regarding the FIR, the intervention of central agencies will be sought.

Banerjee had stirred controversy on Saturday, accusing Bose of turning Raj Bhavan into a BJP office and hinting that arms and explosives could be found there.

The remarks evoked a strong reaction from the governor, who first demanded an apology and subsequently lodged an FIR at Hare Street police station on Tuesday after Banerjee refused to retract his statement.

Bose also arranged a public inspection of the Raj Bhavan compound, accompanied by central and state security personnel, to counter Banerjee’s allegations.

"By undertaking the public inspection of the entire area before media jointly by Raj Bhavan security and Kolkata Police personnel, the governor has preempted any conspiracy to discredit Raj Bhavan, which is doing the right job by supporting the SIR initiative and flagging misdeeds by the ruling TMC," Adhikari said.

Taking a dig at the TMC over SIR-related deaths, the senior BJP MLA from Nandigram said, “While there had not been a single instance of SIR-related death from 12 other states and Union territories, only the TMC chairperson and her party leaders are making claims about deaths triggered by SIR panic-stress of either citizens or BLOs." "The narratives are totally false. TMC leaders should themselves consult big doctors to rid themselves of this obsession to find SIR ghosts in every death,” he added.

He added that the Election Commission has "understood a section of BDOs and DMs were under the direct influence of TMC and taken corrective measures. The entire SIR exercise is taking place smoothly with the satisfaction of every citizen except TMC leaders." On reports of Bangladeshi infiltrators leaving the country following the SIR exercise, Adhikari said, "I am asking the Bangladeshi/Rohingya infiltrators to leave quickly. We are asking them to board boats or whatever transport they have to leave fast. There will be no slackening in the move to detect, delete (from electoral rolls) and deport every infiltrator. However, we will grant citizenship under CAA to Hindu refugees." Alleging that the TMC government hadn't made payments to contractors under its 100-days work programme in rural areas, Adhikari said work orders for various rural projects, including potable drinking water supply, rural road construction, and housing, had been sanctioned without budgetary allocation with only a few months left before the assembly polls.

"Once the election dates are announced after SIR and publication of electoral rolls in February 2026, this government will not be able to execute any project. So I request the contractors to be on guard that small and big-time TMC leaders cannot claim the percentage of a tender issued by the respective local panchayat,” he said.

Adhikari alleged that 9,114 schemes worth thousands of crores were being implemented in the rural belts in this manner and dubbed the road construction project ‘Pathashree’ as 'Luthashree' (plunder).

"I am not suggesting development works be stalled. But after non-performance in all these years, the sudden rush to issue tenders for development projects without budgetary allocation raises suspicion. So we must be on guard, ensure the money is not siphoned off and that there is no deterioration in infrastructure,” he said. PTI SUS MNB