Bengal Minister questiones Governor's jurisdiction

Kolkata, Mar 15 (UNI) West Bengal Transport Minister Subhash Chakraborty created a ripple in the West Bengal Assembly today when he questioned the jurisdiction of the Governor in making a public statement on the Nandigram incident.

Asserting that the Left Front Government would continue to work for industrialisation and take on any threat to law and order, Mr Chakraborty also challenged the Opposition on its demand for imposition of President's rule in the state.

'' What jurisdiction one can have should be clear. Nobody can speak up any time on any issue. I have no objection to the public statement the Governor has made. But he could have expressed his view to the Chief Minister, '' he said.

Mr Chakraborty requested the Speaker to take initiative to decide whether anybody could say anything.

Expressing his ''anguish'' over the Nandigram police firing in which 14 people were killed, Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi questioned yesterday what purpose was served by the use of force and whether the ''spilling of human blood'' was avoidable.

He said in the statement that the news of deaths by police firing had filled him with a sense of cold horror as those killed were not anti-national elements or terrorists.

'' I have doubts whether the Governor has the jurisdiction to say like this, '' Mr Chakrabory later told reporters in the Assembly corridor.

Observing that a trend was emerging in which anybody was speaking and doing anything beyond the Constitution, Mr Chakraborty told the House that it was on this ground that he had opposed some acts of the Election Commission before the state Assembly election.

Daring the Opposition Congress and Trinamool Congress for the demand for invoking Article 356 of the Constitution in the state, Mr Chakraborty said the people of West Bengal were with the Left Government.

UNI