New Delhi / Kolkata: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, while condemning Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s comments on an attack on BJP chief JP Nadda’s convoy, asked her to withdraw them and warned today:’Madam, please don’t play with fire’.
Dhankhar this morning submitted a report to the central government on the ‘deteriorating; law and order situation in Bengal, after which the State’s police chief and Chief Secretary have been summoned on Monday.
The Governor’s report to Centre mentions lack of adequate security for Nadda and other BJP leaders in Bengal when they were attacked on Thursday. The Governor’s Secretariat has said there were inadequate security arrangements at the time.
MHA has summoned DGP of West Bengal and the Chief Secretary on 14 December. West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Director General of Police (DGP) Virendra have been called by the home ministry.
Amit Shah may travel to Kolkata on 19 and 20 December, sources say, as the party prepares to take on the Mamata Banerjee government aggressively over the incident.
The Chief Minister has accused the BJP of staging the attack and falsely accusing her party men as part of a political conspiracy in the run-up to the Bengal election due in six months.
On Thursday, Dhankhar said that that he had alerted the chief secretary (CS) and the director general of police (DGP) of the possibility of the collapse of law and order during Nadda’s scheduled rally but their ‘non responsive stance signals failure of constitutional machinery’ in the state.
After the attack, the Governor tweeted, ‘Concerned at alarming reports of anarchy and lawlessness @MamataOfficial indicating ruling party harmads on rampage at BJP President Convoy and political police @WBPolice in support.’
When the incident took place, Nadda’s convoy was on its way to Diamond Harbour, the parliamentary constituency of the Chief Minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee. The cars were attacked with rocks and sticks by a mob allegedly of Trinamool supporters. The BJP said its leaders like Kailash Vijayvargiya and Mukul Roy were hurt.
