La Ganesan takes oath as Governor; Suvendu says ‘not invited to function’

Ganesan has been given additional charge of West Bengal. Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Prakash Shrivastava administered the oath of office to Ganesan in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, state Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee and other dignitaries.

The CM welcomed the new governor by presenting him a flower bouquet after the swearing-in ceremony.

The BJP had on Saturday announced Dhankhar’s candidature for election to the post of vice president. Following the announcement, Dhankhar last night resigned from his post. Dhankhar’s wife Sudesh Dhankhar was also present at the ceremony on Monday.

Ganesan arrived in the city on Monday evening. State ministers Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and Sujit Bose welcomed the new governor at the city airport. From there, Ganesan went to Raj Bhawan for the swearing-in ceremony.

Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari was not present at the event. Adhikari told mediapersons that the state government did not invite him to the programme. “I have not received any invitation for the programme till 5 pm on Monday,” said Adhikari.

Sources in the government, however, said that an invitation was sent to Adhikari. “The invitation letter was sent to the office of the BJP Legislature Party in the state Assembly. Other BJP MLAs were also invited,” said a senior official.

Adhikari took to Twitter to congratulate the new West Bengal Governor. “Congratulations to Shri La. Ganesan ji, Governor of Manipur, for taking the Additional Charge as Governor of West Bengal. As the Leader of Opposition, I heartily welcome you Sir & would like to assure you of my full cooperation,” Adhikari tweeted.