BJP, Congress embroiled in war of words over Assam governor

GUWAHATI: The BJP and Congress have got embroiled in a war of words over the ruling party’s recent protest against governor PB Acharya.
After Congress staged a protest in front of the Raj Bhavan on Tuesday alleging that the governor is ‘acting and discharging his duties like the agent of a political party’, BJP came out in defence of Acharya saying that the ruling party has resorted to petty politics to hide its failures.
BJP has also accused Congress of setting a bad precedent by resorting to protests instead of directly raising the issue with the President. “The issues on which the governor commented are all in the interest of Assam and its people. Congress, in its 14-year rule, has failed to deliver proper governance to people. So, to divert the attention from all its failures, the ruling party resorted to a demonstration against the governor. This is very unfortunate and showed Congress in poor light,” said BJP spokesperson Rupam Goswami.
Members of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, during the protest, submitted a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee through Kamrup (Metro) DC M Angamuthu demanding that Acharya, who is the governor of Assam and Nagaland, be relieved of his duties.
Congress, in the memorandum, stated, “We strongly believe that continuance of PB Acharya as the governor (acting) of Assam with ulterior political motives will shatter the social fabric of the state. We therefore humbly urge you to immediately intervene and restore the dignity of the highest office of our state by either restraining the Hon'ble Governor of Assam to act as per constitutional norms or relieve him from the additional duties of the state of Assam.”
BJP, on the other hand, said the governor has never obstructed functioning of the state government. Goswami said the governor has been discharging his duties within the limits of the Constitution. “We appeal to the Congress government to focus on resolving the burning problems in the state. Congress should stop politicizing the governor,” added Goswami.
The governor and state government were at loggerheads earlier this year after Acharya hit out at the former saying that a handful of poachers were challenging the authority of the forest department. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, in an apparent reference to the governor’s criticism, had said everyone has to stick to constitutional limits.