Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said C.V. Ananda Bose's speech on the first day of the Assembly's budget session was a revised version of what the state government had initially provided to him as the governor reportedly had disagreed with the content that included criticism of the central government.

“I just want to say that the speech the state cabinet sent to the governor was filled with anti-central government rhetoric and political bias. The governor wisely rejected it, refusing to read it in the Assembly. I want to thank him for his firm stance. As a result, the government was compelled to revise its original speech,” Adhikari said outside the Assembly before the beginning of the session.

"Later, after making revisions, he agreed to deliver the speech,” Adhikari added.

Although the gubernatorial address was without "harsh" comments against the Narendra Modi dispensation, paragraph 21 referred to Bengal not getting central funds.

“Despite financial and non-receipt of constraints central fund, the State Government has not backed out from its commitment and of ensuring employment rural brethren and has introduced housing for our rural "Karmashree" and “Banglar Bari (Gramin)" funded entirely through its own resources," read the paragraph 21.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee launched the Banglar Bari scheme under which her government would build 28 lakh houses for the rural poor. The state was forced to initiate its own scheme after the Narendra Modi government did not disburse funds since 2021 to build dwelling units for poor villagers.

Sources in Raj Bhawan refused to comment on Adhikari's claim that the speech had been changed following the governor's refusal to read it in its original form.

State minister for parliamentary affairs, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, said: “We will not speak on any controversial topic. The rule is that the speech is sent to him and if he wants, he can ask for minor changes. But it never hampers the spirit of the speech. This happens across the country.”

The Trinamool Congress said no alteration had been made to the speech.

“I don’t know from where the leader of the Opposition got this information. The speech was sent to him and he approved it. Today, he read it out. There was no change,” a senior Trinamool leader said.

The governor arrived at the Assembly at 1.55pm and was received by Mamata and Speaker Biman Banerjee. The trio then offered floral tributes at the statue of B.R. Ambedkar.

As Mamata was heading to greet the governor, she met Suvendu Adhikari in the lobby and asked him to accompany her, but the Nandigram MLA chose to avoid her and entered the House instead.

Asked about it, Adhikari said: “She is older than me and I’ve spent a long time with her. She can ask me and there is nothing wrong with it. However, as the leader of the Opposition, I was not supposed to receive the governor according to protocol. So I didn’t go."

Bose started his speech exactly at 2pm but it was disrupted several times by BJP MLAs who alleged that the government was forcing the governor to deliver distorted information.

“The governor is saying that Jal Swapno is a state government project while it is funded by the Centre. The name of PM Jal Jeevan Mission has been changed and they are trying to take the credit. I protested when the governor said that the law and order in the state was peaceful. The speech refers to women empowerment when we have an incident like RG Kar rape and murder,” Adhikari said.