From Our Correspondent
AGARTALA: The state government is on the collision path with the Centre over appointment of new Governor for Tripura.
Devanand Konwar, Governor of Bihar has been appointed as Governor of Tripura replacing Dr. DY Patil and the later has been assigned the charge of Bihar.
According to sources, Dr. Patil has been shifted to mainland state (Bihar) for his ailing health.
However, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Tuesday expressed his dismay over the way new governor has been appointed for the state.
Talking to media, the Chief Minister said the Centre has appointed new Governor breaking the long convention- consultation between state authority and the Centre.
“There has been a convention of having consultation between Chief Minister and the Centre while choosing new Governor for a particular state. But this time, the Centre has not sought state authority’s opinion on the crucial issue”, Sarkar said.
Giving instances of appointment of new Governor, Sarkar said there was example of sending second list of names for potential Governor. “But this time, the Centre has not even informed about the move which is undesirable”, he pointed out.
After receiving the information of appointment of Konwar, Chief Minister had informed Union Home Minister Shusil Kumar Shinde that the new government has assumed office very recently and the Assembly session is all set to begin on March 15.
“In my last 15 years stint as Chief Minister I have experienced the convention that Home Minister speak to the Chief Minister of the respective state and send a list of names of proposed Governors from where the state chooses one name. There were instances that even the Home Ministry sent a second list from where governor was chosen,” he said.
“It was perhaps on March 7, Home Minister Sushil Shinde talked to me regarding appointment of new Governor and I told him that the new ministry has taken oath yesterday. New session of the Assembly would begin on March 15 and the incumbent Governor has also finalised his inaugural address. So it would not be right to change the Governor now. More over Governor is not present in the state right now,” the Chief Minister said.
“We became stunned when our resident commissioner at Tripura Bhavan in Delhi collected the copy of the Rashtrapati Bhavan notification of March 9. It seems that the Centre is imposing their decision on us,” Sarkar said.
Rastrapati Bhavan made a notification on Saturday (March 9) appointing Devand Konwar, as the Governor of Tripura, who is at present Governor of Bihar.
“Keeping all aspects in mind I requested the Union Home Minister to rethink on the decision- replacing the incumbent. But the Centre did not pay heed on the request on the important issue”, he said.
On being asked about joining of newly appointed Governor Mr. Konwar, Sarkar said, “We are not aware about it”.
It may be noted that the incumbent- Dr. Patil who is currently outside the state, is scheduled to arrive here on March 14, just a day before commencement of Assembly session.
The council of ministers has already approved the speech to be delivered by the Governor on the first day session of the Assembly.
Now, it is to be seen what the government does in the wake of appointment of new Governor. (with inputs from PTI)
