There was no respite to the ongoing conflict between Raj Bhavan and Nabanna (State secretariat) even as Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday fired a fresh salvo at the Trinamool Congress Government for denying him a chopper to visit Farakka and Malda in North Bengal.
The Friday’s development came barely a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee charged Dhankhar with transgressing his constitutional limits before appealing to the central Government to rein the Governor in.
“I am not a tourist in Bengal and have been deputed to my office with an oath to discharge certain duties towards the people of the State,” the Governor said censuring the Government’s decision to deny him a helicopter for his visit to Malda and nearby areas.
“I have never crossed my duties,” the Governor said apparently referring to the Chief Minister’s allegations that “some people (read the Governor) are acting like BJP’s mouthpiece.” Complaining against the Government’s decision to deny him a chopper he reiterated “touring the State of which I am the Governor does not amount crossing my duties,” and said, “had I crossed my limits I would have received a letter from the Government which I have not,” adding “I will give a reply if an when such letter comes to me.”
Hitting out at the Trinamool Congress functionaries for questioning his recent visit to Singur — once an epicenter of Mamata Banerjee’s anti-Left land movement that finally saw the moving out of the much publicised Tata Nano small car plant from the area — Dhankhar said “I went to Singur not without informing the Government. I had pre-informed the administration,” wondering “what is there to hide in Singur.”
He said “some people are trying to hide matters in Singur and Nandigram where I want to visit too because it seems that they (Government) are trying to keep something off people’s notice.” He asked “what is there to hide so that their leaders raised a hue and cry as soon as I threw a glance at Singur. It seems something is fishy in Singur and Nandigram where I will definitely go.”
Earlier the Chief Minister on Thursday said without referring to the Governor, “I generally do not say anything on constitutional posts but there are some people who are behaving just like BJP’s mouthpieces,” adding, “they (the Governor) are running parallel administration in the State.”
Returning fire State Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya questioned the need of a helicopter to visit the districts. She said “the Government must know why he needs a helicopter. Mamata Banerjee travels in a helicopter because she has administrative functions to discharge. In fact she takes the entire administration to the districts. But here the Governor has no business to interfere in administrative matters without informing the Government and more so do the same by using a chopper provided by the Government.”