Kolkata: The battle between the chief minister and the Governor of West Bengal touched a new low, with Mamata Banerjee blocking Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Twitter yesterday. Mamata, in fact, announced it herself, when she told reporters, “He tweets something every day, abusing me or my officers. Unconstitutional, unethical things. He instructs and advises. Elected government has become bonded labourer. That's why I have blocked him from my Twitter account. I was getting irritated every day.”
Alleging that the Governor was “sitting on files and continuously threatening government officers”, she said, “I have written several letters to the PM about him. That he (Governor) is not listening and is threatening everyone. I have even met him and spoke with him. We have been patiently suffering. He has not cleared several files. He is keeping every file pending. How can he speak about policy decisions?”
Accusing the Governor of tapping phones, Mamata said, “Why has the PM not removed him? (Because) Pegasus is running from Governor’s house. He is tapping phones.”
Minutes after Mamata’s media interaction, Dhankhar posted on Twitter: “Mandated under Article 159 of the Constitution to ensure none in the state ‘blocks’ Constitutional Norms and Rules of Law and those in authority bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India.”
The decision to block Dhankhar's Twitter account comes just a day after the Governor ‘appealed’ to the chief minister to “forget her ego and come for discussion”. “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should work according to the Constitution. I shall request the chief minister to take out her time and sit for discussion. There is no place for conflict in democracy. In democracy people who are sitting on the top should work in tandem so that it can help the people in general. There is no place for arrogance in democracy. The way the chief minister makes comments on the Governor is not correct. We should sit for discussion and find a solution to it,” Dhnakhar had said.
