Reacting to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegation that he was “speaking in the voice of the Central government”, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi said on Sunday that he was speaking only in the “voice of his conscience.”
After Ms. Banerjee alleged that the Army was “collecting money from vehicles,” the Governor had said “every person should take care in making allegations against a responsible organisation like the Army.”
“I am the voice of my conscience,” the Governor told journalists on the sidelines of an event here. Ms. Banerjee also termed his remarks “unfortunate.”
The exchange between the Governor and the Chief Minister started following Ms. Banerjee’s allegation that the Army was “collecting money from vehicles.”
The Army said in a statement on Friday that such allegations were “baseless.” The Army clarified that it was engaged in “routine annual data collection of loads carriers” in 19 toll plazas in the State to handle future emergency situations.
