Bengal Guv targets Mamata in tweets

A fresh confrontation seems to be brewing between the Raj Bhavan and the state government, with the Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday tweeting he was trying to "read between the lines" of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's advice for college and university teachers 'to come to her directly in case of any problem and not to be unduly bothered about what someone else tells them'.

Dhankhar, who has been having frequent run-ins with the Trinamool Congress government, directly targeted Banerjee by tagging her in the tweet in which he also claimed that all his actions as a governor and chancellor were in tune with the constitution and University Acts.

"@MamataOfficial. Making an earnest effort to read between the lines. All my actions as Governor and Chancellor are as scripted in the Constitution and Acts of Universities," the tweet said.

Addressing college and university teachers during an official programme on Tuesday, Banerjee had said: "Don't be unduly bothered if somebody calls and tells you something". Though Banerjee did not name the governor, it was apparent that she was indirectly referring to Dhankhar, who has been pro-active in calling university authorities and visiting campuses in his capacity as ex-officio chancellor.

Banerjee reminded the academic that her government was elected just like the one at the Centre. "The Constitution has empowered the elected governments. The Central government is also elected government. You concentrate on your work. If you have any problem tell me directly".

Banerjee repeated her assertions during a meeting with the vice-chancellors also.

A few days back she had pulled up the vice-chancellor of a university for keeping her government in the dark about some issues and instead "discussing it elsewhere" (read governor).

In fact, One of the initial standoffs between the Raj Bhavan and Nabanna (state secretariat) happened over the governor's visit to Jadavpur University to "rescue" Union Minister Babul Supriyo, who was heckled by a section of students in the campus. The Trinamool had then called his action as "most unfortunate" and "shocking".

Since then, friction between Dhankhar and the Banerjee administration have been frequent and on a multiple issues, which grabbed the headlines and became prime time topic in the media.

( With inputs from IANS )