Governor is 'their man', says Mamata on Dhankhar's Delhi trip

Kolkata: Stating that she had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi thrice to relieve Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar from the post of the state's Constitutional head, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday called him as the "Centre's man".

While reacting to the Governor's visit to different Central ministers including Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, Banerjee sarcastically said: "Of course he can meet (Amit Shah). It is completely his prerogative whom he likes to meet. After all he is their (Centre's) man only."

"I wrote to the Prime Minister thrice to relieve him from the post of state's Governor," Banerjee said when asked whether she wants Dhankhar to continue in his present post. It needs mention that there are speculations that Dhankhar would be soon relieved from the post of state's Governor soon.

Trinamool Congress leadership have repeatedly hit out at the Governor raising allegations against him of "acting on behest of the BJP". He also received the Chief Minister's flak for not giving due respect to the chair of the state's constitutional head.

After returning to power for the third consecutive term with a landslide victory, Banerjee even wrote to Dhankhhar accusing him of "ignoring her advise" to refrain from "surpassing the Chief Minister and her Council of Ministers and communicating with and dictating" the state government officers "in excess" of his "power under the constitution".

This came amidst the strained Raj Bhavan-Nabanna relation over the claims counterclaims over post poll violence.

Replying to the question that whether she is aware whether the Governor would be changed, Banerjee on Thursday said: "How will I know? Do they inform us anything? Despite there is a provision to consult the state government before appointing the Governor, it was not done before sending him (Dhankhar). They did not consult the state this time as well."

"A child can be cajoled into silence but not an elderly man. In this case, speech is silver; silence is golden," Banerjee said when asked about the Governor's repeated claim about post poll violence despite the state government having clearly stated that there are no such incidents in Bengal.

She has also stated that the expense of the Governor's house has also gone up. But she would be able to give a concrete figure on the same only after a thoroughh calculations.

Besides meeting Shah on Thursday, Dhankhar also called on Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel and Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs of India Pralhad Joshi.