Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed that C.V. Ananda Bose had been made to resign as governor under threat and alleged that his replacement R.N. Ravi was a "parade-marching BJP cadre".

“I know everything about why Bose was removed. The person who has been brought now is a parade-marching cadre of the BJP. He does nothing except the BJP’s work. Bengal is different. In Tamil Nadu, Stalin and the people of the state faced him every day. Why was the governor changed in Bengal just one month before the elections?” Mamata asked while addressing a crowd at her dharna here against the SIR.

She also referred to former governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who had resigned from the post of Vice-President before completion of his tenure, and asked why no one had been allowed to complete their tenure.

“They are not allowing anyone to complete their tenure. They didn’t allow Dhankhar to complete it either. Why didn’t Dhankhar complete his tenure? They took him from here and made him the Vice-President. After that, he was virtually confined — like najarbandi (surveillance),” added the chief minister before reminding the new governor that Bengal is not Tamil Nadu and it is a different place.

Ahead of the Bengal Assembly elections, the sudden resignation of Bose has given fresh momentum to politics, with Mamata immediately claiming that she was shocked and surprised by his resignation.

A source in Lok Bhavan said Ravi was likely to arrive in Calcutta on Monday and take oath soon after.

On Saturday, Mamata questioned the reason behind sending the Tamil Nadu governor to Bengal and alleged that it was part of a conspiracy orchestrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, without naming them.

Mamata said that though she knew the actual reason behind Bose's exit, she would not disclose it. However, the chief minister alleged that many people did not want Raj Bhavan to become a BJP office or the office of the constitutional head to be used to disburse cash for the BJP during elections.

“Anandababu was also brought here. Now he has been removed. I know the reason, though I will not say it. I will only say that he was threatened. Many people do not want Raj Bhavan to become a BJP office. They don't want to distribute BJP’s money from there. They (BJP) do everything. Do they have any sense of morality?” Mamata asked.

The BJP, however, said it was the same Mamata who had strongly criticised governors, including Dhankhar and Bose.

“She had again and again attacked the earlier two governors, Jagdeep Dhankhar and C.V. Ananda Bose. After he (Bose) resigned, he became a good person. We have never witnessed such conflicting stances,” said BJP’s chief whip in the Assembly, Shankar Ghosh.