The Budget Session of the Bengal Assembly, which is set to start on Monday, may see yet another showdown between the Trinamool Congress and Governor CV Anand Bose over the latter’s speech.
The last assembly session ended sine die (without designating a future date) in December 2023 and is set to be reconvened this week but buzz in political and administrative circles is that the governor’s speech may be missing this time.
Generally, the budget begins with the governor’s speech but sources in Raj Bhawan said no budget copy has reached them yet.
The Raj Bhawan has not commented on the development yet but sources said the governor is keeping a close eye. Discussions are also on with constitutional experts and the legal team to proceed as required.
Meanwhile, sources in the assembly said the procedure being followed was as per rules. A senior TMC MLA told News18: “The previous session ended sine die so that session is continuing. Everything in the assembly is taking place as per the law.”
Sources in the Raj Bhawan, however, said there are two key questions. One, if the new session is in continuation of the previous one, how can there be two budgets? Second, is the budget legally tenable without the governor’s nod?
When Jagdip Dhankar was the governor, he wanted to add various things in his budget speech which were not accepted by the state government, leading to a major controversy. Dhankar, in fact, tried to leave the assembly without reading the Budget, further adding fuel to fire.
Sources in political circles say the TMC has planned the sine die theory to skip the governor’s nod.
All eyes now are on whether the latest issue will become a flashpoint between the governor and the government, given that both are embroiled in a tussle over panchayat poll violence and appointment of interim VCs in state-run universities.
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