CV Ananda Bose on Wednesday took oath as the new governor of West Bengal.
He was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of Calcutta high court Prakash Shrivastava in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, other state ministers and Speaker Biman Banerjee at a programme in the Raj Bhavan.
Leader of opposition in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari, however, skipped the programme.
Bose, a retired Kerala cadre IAS officer of the 1977 batch, was named as the new governor of West Bengal on November 17.
He replaced La Ganesan as the governor.
Bose served as an administrator of the National Museum in Kolkata before superannuating in 2011.
Leader of Opposition in Bengal Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday alleged that the Trinamool Congress government "humiliated" him by allotting him a seat beside two MLAs who defected to the ruling party from the BJP after last year's assembly polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Partyleader also claimed that the TMC government was pursuing "vindictive" politics as it was yet to come to terms with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's poll defeat to him in Nandigram.
"Just to humiliate me and the BJP at the oath-taking ceremony, I was given a seat beside two legislators who had won last year's elections on a party ticket and later defected to the TMC without resigning as saffron camp MLAs.
"This TMC government is acting in a vindictive manner. It is yet to digest the fact that the TMC supremo lost to me in Nandigram. The government did not maintain decorum and showed disrespect to the chair of leader of opposition. Hence, I skipped the programme," Adhikari told reporters.
The senior BJP leader was referring to Raiganj MLA Krishna Kalyani and Bongaon legislator Biswajit Das.
Adhikari further pointed out that TMC MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Mala Roy were given front row seats at the event, while BJP's Balurghat MP and state president Sukanta Majumdar was assigned a rear row seat.
"Mamata Banerjee had the opportunity to be show grace and poise and be accommodating to the opposition for an occasion like the swearing-in ceremony of the honourable governor. She failed to do so," he added.
Responding to Adhikari's charges, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the BJP leader skipped the programme on "flimsy grounds".
"Adhikari is no saint who can make tall claims about courtesy. We are aware of the kind of language he uses against our chief minister every day. He was given due respect and recognition as the leader of opposition at the swearing-in ceremony. He set a bad precedent by skipping the programme," Ghosh added.
