'Misuse of Powers by Governors': CM Banerjee, Stalin Plan Meeting in Delhi

The meet will be held to discuss the 'Constitutional overstepping and brazen misuse of power by Governors'.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday, 13 February, took to Twitter to announce that chief ministers of non-BJP ruled states would soon be holding a meeting in Delhi.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday, 13 February, took to Twitter to announce that chief ministers of non-BJP ruled states would soon be holding a meeting in Delhi to discuss the "Constitutional overstepping and brazen misuse of power by the Governors".

Sharing that West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee brought up the idea of convening this meet, the DMK chief also said his party would always be committed to upholding the state autonomy.

Stalin wrote on Twitter, "Beloved Didi @MamataOfficial telephoned me to share her concern and anguish on the Constitutional overstepping and brazen misuse of power by the Governors of non-BJP ruled states. She suggested for a meeting of Opposition CMs."

"I assured her of DMK’s commitment to uphold state autonomy. Convention of Opposition CMs will soon happen out of Delhi!" he wrote in another tweet.

The announcement came soon after a Twitter war took place between CM Stalin and West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar over the matter of governor proroguing the West Bengal Assembly a day ago on Saturday, 11 February.

"The act of #WestBengal Governor to prorogue the WB Assembly Session is without any propriety expected from the exalted post and goes against the established norms and conventions. The 'symbolic' head of the state should be the role model to uphold the Constitution. Beauty of democracy lies in extending mutual respect to each other," Stalin tweeted.

Responding to Stalin's tweet, the West Bengal governor said that the Assembly was prorogued at the express request of the state.

"Find it unusually expedient to respectfully invite indulgent attention of TN CM @mkstalin that his extremely harsh hurtful observations are not in the least in conformity with facts- attached order. Assembly was prorogued at express request @MamataOfficial @rajbhavan_tn (sic)," Governor Dhankar wrote, attaching a official communication regarding this matter.

Governor Dhankar had prorogued the state Assembly from Saturday following a recommendation from the state government, clarified TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, reported NDTV.

While the West Bengal governor and CM have locked horns over multiple issues, at the southern state of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin has time and again blamed governor RN Ravi for sitting over the state's anti-NEET bill for a long time without forwarding it to the Centre.

Trinamool Congress, meanwhile, has said, it would pass a resolution against Governor Jagdeep Dhankar in the state's current Budget session as he is "transgressing constitutional limits". CM Banerjee had earlier blocked the governor on Twitter to prevent him from tagging her to his tweets.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, 13 January, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao said he was soon planning to meet Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai and Mamata Banerjee in Hyderabad. The CM reportedly is keen to form a non-BJP, non-Congress coalition and hence is in touch with several Opposition parties.

(With inputs from NDTV)