WB CM Mamata slams Guv Dhankar amid mismatch of Covid data between Centre & state

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday, accusing him of trying to "usurp powers" amid the coronavirus crisis, and asked him to desist from using official communications and logos on social media. Calling his letters 'unprecedented', CM Banerjee said that his words are 'vituperative, intemperate, intimidating and abusive'.

"Such words and such communications of such content, tenor and tone from a Governor to an elected CM are unprecedented in the annals of Indian constitutional and political history. Your words against me and my ministers and officers can be described as vituperative, intemperate, intimidating and abusive," Banerjee said in her 14-page reply to Dhankhar.

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Accusing him of preaching and sermonising constitutional norms "without practising it and violating it", she said the governor may not agree with her policies, but unfortunately, he has no other power than bringing it to her notice, as long as the government commands the confidence of the legislature. "I beseech you to desist from intensifying your efforts to usurp powers, especially at the time of crisis. You should desist from using official communications/logos for your continuous tweets on social media," the chief minister said. 

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Bengal Guv tells CM to give transparent Covid 19 data

Taking to Twitter, Governor Dhankhartold the Chief Minister to not conceal the real data regarding the COVID-19 situation in the state. The governor cited numbers that shows a gap betwene national and state data. Citing the massive mismatch in the figures given by the State government with respect to the data given by the Central government, he asked her to share the data transparently by keeping aside politics. He shot off two letters to the chief minister last week amid the clash between the Raj Bhavan and Nabanna, the state secretariat, in the wake of West Bengal's response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

READ | 'Give up COVID-19 data cover-up': Guv Dhankhar lambasts CM Mamata over COVID mismatch

Mismatch in data

Union Health Ministry on Friday designated Red, Orange, and Green zones of the states. The list shows the state of West Bengal has, 10 districts in the red zone, five in the orange zone, and eight in the green zone. However, in a major contradiction, the West Bengal government has claimed that the state has only four districts in the red zone which are Kolkata, Howrah, Purba Medinipur and North-24 Paraganas. 

(with PTI inputs) 

READ | Mamata govt contradicts Centre's Covid zone list; says West Bengal has 4 Red zones, not 10