A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused West Bengal’s Governor Jagdeep Dhankar of running a ‘parallel administration’, Mr. Dhankar on November 15 visited Murshidabad district even after his formal request to make a helicopter available to him was denied and complained about the condition of roads.
“I can talk about the road condition as I am fresh from my travel. We started at 5 a.m. this morning, the national high is fine and I want to thank Gadkari ji (Union Minister Nitin Gadkari), some of the State roads were similar but as soon as we reached 150-200 km close to Murshidabad, the road condition worsened. I had to withstand quite a few bumps,” Mr. Dhankar told journalists.
On Thursday (November 14), the Governor said that he has requisitioned a helicopter which for some reason has not been made available to him. Asked about the remarks of the Chief Minister directed to him, the Governor said that if the Chief Minister has any issue she can discuss it with him directly.
“Dialogue between a Chief Minister and the Governor is either one to one or through a communication. I have got no communication form the state government so far that any of my actions are beyond my right. I should not be reacting to the CM’s statement. If she has any issue either she will discuss with me or write to me,” Mr. Dhankar said.
On November 14, the Chief Minister while responding to a question on the role of Governor in Maharashtra has said, “In my State you are seeing what is going. Just like parallel administration they like to run”.
The Trinamool Congress leadership on Friday was more direct in criticism of the Governor “The cost of a helicopter will have to be borne by the people of the state. If his health does not permit, why undertake such a trip?” State’s Health Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya asked.
Pointing out that the Governor is well known advocate Ms Bhattacharya said that he should understand that the State government is not his client for whom he should dissuade from giving regular advices to the State government. “The Constitution mandates that the Governor follows the advice the council of minister headed by the Chief Minister,” she said.
