West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took a jibe at Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar by reprimanding a police officer during an administrative meeting in Kolkata on Thursday.
“Does the governor call you? He says you don’t do this and don’t do that. Now you won’t accept it. Even if he does, you don’t have to worry about him. You work for the state government.” are working,” Ms. Banerjee told the SP of East Medinipur district. The chief minister’s remarks were made publicly during an administrative meeting, in which district magistrates, superintendents of police and ministers along with senior administrative officials were present.
The Chief Minister said that he is getting complaints from the district and efforts are being made to incite riots in a systematic manner. Ms Banerjee said she had to intervene in a labor dispute at an industrial unit in East Medinipur’s Haldia and ensure the arrest of some people.
The development is a new low between the Raj Bhavan and the state government. On Monday, the Chief Minister said that he has blocked the Governor on Twitter. The governor on Thursday tweeted videos of the chief minister publicly reprimanding the police officer.
Reacting to the development, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who hails from East Medinipur, asked that once the State Election Commission has issued notification for civil elections and the model code of conduct is in place, the Chief Minister, District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police along with Administrative How can I hold a meeting? “It is clear that @CEOWestBengal is influenced by Trinamool,” alleged Mr Adhikari.
After the West Bengal Assembly elections and a bitter electoral battle in Nandigram, where the BJP leader outpaced the Chief Minister, Purba Medinipur has emerged as the new political flash point between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.
During the administrative meeting, the Chief Minister also directed the Police Commissioner of Barrackpore city to take action against those responsible for the recent incidents. The Chief Minister said that the cooperation of CID and Kolkata Police should be taken for those crimes.
In the past few weeks, Barrackpore has witnessed political violence with at least three deaths in separate incidents. Barrackpore, about 50 km north of Kolkata, has been at a boil since 2019 after sitting MP Arjun Singh joined the BJP from the Trinamool.