Will not share any public platform with Mamata over RG Kar impasse: Bengal Guv

Kolkata, Sept 13 (PTI) West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Thursday said he will not share any public platform with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in view of people's outcry over the RG Kar hospital impasse.

In a video message, Bose also said he will also socially boycott the chief minister.

"I will not be sharing any public platform with the chief minister. I will take proactive steps against her for violating Constitutional provisions. My role as the Governor will be confined to the Constitutional obligations," Bose said.

The governor's message came after the proposed meeting between the chief minister and the agitating junior doctors did not take place earlier in the day.

The medics, even after reaching the gates of the state secretariat Nabanna, refused to hold talks with the state government unless their demand for live streaming of the meeting to resolve the RG Kar hospital impasse was met. The Mamata Banerjee government did not allow live-streaming but said the proceedings could be video-recorded, an option rejected by the medics.

"I have been flooded with questions and representations from various sections of the public of what action the Governor is proposing to end the present crisis in Bengal. I stand committed to the people of Bengal," the governor said.

Bose reiterated his commitment to the parents of the RG Kar hospital doctor who was raped and murdered and also to those who are demonstrating for justice.

"In my assessment, the government has failed in its duties. The home minister has failed in her responsibility to maintain law and order," he added.

The chief minister is in charge of the home and health departments.

"The health minister has miserably failed in containing the liquidation in the medical system in the state. It is an irony that the health minister is the home minister who is also the CM who is protesting instead of protecting. There is violence in the streets, in homes, in campus, in hospitals, in villages, in the cities. Violence is everywhere and people are silent," Bose said.

The governor said he has been issuing instructions under Article 167 of the Constitution to the chief minister for compliance.

He said he had asked Banerjee to hold an emergency Cabinet meeting in the wake of the RG Kar Hospital impasse.

The governor has also asked for a white paper on the government's alleged financial mismanagement.

However, these instructions were not followed. PTI