CPI(M) calls Bengal Governor 'partisan'

Ruling front uneasy over Gandhi’s statements

The CPI(M) today branded West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi as “partisan”, two days after the party-led Left Front questioned his “neutrality” when he criticised the post-poll violence in the state.

"He is not impartial enough. He is partisan," CPI(M) Central Committee member and state president of CITU Shyamal Chakraborty told reporters when asked to comment on Gandhi's statement advising the state government to act rapidly in bringing the perpetrators of crime to book.

Following Gandhi's August 6 statement, the Left Front, in a statement the next day, had criticised the Governor for what it described as his "lack of neutrality".

Recalling that in 2007 Gandhi had said that Nandigram had been "recaptured" by the CPI(M), Chakraborty alleged that the Governor remained silent on the events during the preceding 11 months when Trinamool Congress-led Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee activists, along with Maoists, had killed and evicted CPI(M) workers, besides burning police jeeps.

Chakraborty alleged, during his visit to Nandigram, the Governor did not care to visit the evicted people sheltered in relief camps.

"He also did not care to condemn the killing of 32 of our party workers and the eviction of 5,000 of them from their homes in Nandigram," the senior CPI(M) leader said.

Asked whether the government would seek reappointment of Gandhi as Governor, Chakraborty said, "We are neither speaking about his reappointment or his removal. It is for the Centre to decide. What I can say is that the West Bengal Government did not invite him to the state."

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Partha Chatterjee, criticising Chakraborty for his comments, said, "The Governor's is a constitutional post and as such has a dignity. Our Governor does not indulge in party politics. The CPI-M is afraid of this and is trying to wean him into its camp by putting pressure on him."