Published 19:51 IST, May 4th 2020
West Bengal: TMC MPs 'reply' to Guv Dhankar's critical letter to CM Mamata Banerjee
TMC MPs took on West Bengal Governor Jadgeep Dhankar after he wrote another four-page letter criticizing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over COVID response
- India News
- 2 min read
The Trinamool Congress took on West Bengal Governor Jadgeep Dhankar after he wrote another four-page letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in which he attacked the CM over her ways of tackling the novel Coronavirus crisis. Dhankar and Banerjee has been at loggerheads for weeks on the State's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, with the former accusing the latter
"West Bengal is, unfortunately, emerging as a 'police state' with anyone posting on social media, to the distaste of the ruling dispensation, gets a police knock at his door," wrote Dhankar to his counterpart at Nabanna, the state secretariat.
TMC hits back
Reacting to that, TMC MP Sudeep Banerjee stated that it was better if the Governor was not discussed at all, at the presser he called for in relation to COVID-19.
He said, "People of Bengal are politically aware, they can see what Raj Bhawan is doing. They see what other Governors are doing. The less we discuss him is better. Our fight is against COVID-19 now in togetherness with people. How would it look if the President wrote to PM every day?"
The Governor and the CM have exchanged multiple letters in the recent past but communication still seems to be unclear between both of their offices. Jagdeep Dhankhar in his letter to Mamata Banerjee stated that she is "running a police state" and said her "misplaced" stance about constitutional norms reflects "authoritarianism" which has no place in a democracy.
Dig at ex-BJP MP
Another TMC MP, Derek O'Brien took a dig at the Governor by saying, "PM has said people who are above 65 should rest at home. What a former BJP MP tweets(Guv) is hard to keep a track off. Our focus is to work for people and tackle Covid under Mamata Banerjee."
Although the letter was addressed to the Chief Minister, no reply was made public from her office on Monday but her trusted MPs did not take Governor's critical letter lightly.
Updated 19:51 IST, May 4th 2020