After weeks of face-offs between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government and Governor Jadgeep Dhankhar, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has invited him to the Kali Puja at her residence and also on Bhai Dooj, known as Bhai Phonta in Bengali.
While no Trinamool Congress leader spoke on record and the governor’s press secretary did not respond to a text message sent seeking confirmation of the news, Dhankhar told journalists that he would be happy to call on the chief minister.
“Raj Bhavan may have been informed. I am not aware of it so far. I and my wife would be delighted to call on the honourable chief minister, subject to her absolute convenience,” Dhankhar said.
“I have heard that an invitation has been sent but only the office at the party chief’s residence can confirm the information,” said a senior TMC minister.
Ironically, the news of Mamata Banerjee’s invitation to Dhankhar came on a day the chairperson of the TMC-run Barasat municipality in North 24-Parganas district, Sunil Mukhopadhyay, disassociated himself from a community Kali puja after learning that the organisers have invited the governor to inaugurate it.
“The governor is not acting as a governor. He is constantly insulting an elected government, and therefore, the people of the state. Since he is coming to inaugurate the puja of Taruchaya Club, I have resigned as its chief patron,” Mukhopadhyay said on Friday as he explained his decision to resign as the chief patron of the Kali Puja organised by Taruchchhaya Club.
Incidentally, Banerjee had called on age governor on Rakshabandhan on August 15 and had tied a rakhi on Dhankhar’s hand.
Dhankhar, who was sworn in on July 30 as the West Bengal governor, has had several run-ins with the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress over the past month.
The first incident to grab the headlines was on September 19 when the governor rushed to Jadavpur University to rescue Union minister Babul Supriyo when he was manhandled by a group of agitating students for a few hours.
The governor has then criticised the government for not paying sufficient attention to the Jiaganj triple murder in which a primary school teacher, his pregnant wife and six-year-old son was killed inside their home.
On September 24, Dhankhar also lashed out at the government when administrative officers stayed away from his meeting in Siliguri.
Then again he stepped up his criticism when, on October 22, two interactive sessions that the governor wanted to hold in North and South 24 Parganas districts had to be cancelled after none of the elected public representatives and administrative officials turned up.
Dhankhar also slammed the Mamata Banerjee government for blacking him out from the live coverage of the Durga Puja event on Kolkata’s Red Road on October 11, where he was present for more than four hours.
Trinamool leaders have earlier alleged that the governor has been acting in a partisan manner and overstepping his role.
