Significant police forces have been positioned in the vicinity of the official residence of West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose in anticipation of his return to Kolkata today. In response to the Trinamool Congress's (TMC) indefinite sit-in protest, barricades have been erected around the Raj Bhavan as well.
Since Thursday, activists from the Trinamool Congress, led by the party's senior leader Abhishek Banerjee, have been staging a sit-in protest outside Raj Bhavan. Their demonstration aims to protest against what they perceive as a delay in the disbursement of Bengal's MGNREGA dues and housing schemes by the Central government.
Abhishek Banerjee initiated this protest after the TMC conducted a two-day protest in New Delhi concerning the pending dues. This move occurred just hours after the Bengal Governor left for visits to flood-affected regions in North Bengal and then to Delhi.
Earlier in the day, Bose addressed a letter to Bengal Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi, inquiring about how the indefinite sit-in demonstration by the TMC outside Raj Bhavan was allowed to take place in an area where Section 144 had been enforced.
Within a radius of 100–150 meters around Raj Bhavan in Kolkata, where the ruling party's protest is ongoing, Section 144 restrictions are in effect.
In Darjeeling on Saturday, the Bengal Governor met with a three-member delegation from the TMC. This delegation urged him to raise the issue of the state's pending MGNREGA dues with the Central government and also requested his presence at the protest outside Raj Bhavan.
Banerjee has declared that the sit-in protest will persist until Bose meets with the demonstrators at the location outside Raj Bhavan.
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