West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday alleged that the Raj Bhavan was placed under surveillance and the action “undermines the sanctity of the institution”.
“I would like to tell you all that the Raj Bhavan is under surveillance. It undermines the sanctity of the Raj Bhavan. I will do everything to protect its sanctity,” Dhankhar, who has often crossed swords with the TMC government over a host of issues in the past one year, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Governor also took an offence after the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee skipped the Independence Day event organized at the Raj Bhavan.
“Absence of CM and officials @MamataOfficial on occasion of Independence Day celebration at Raj Bhawan has like many startled and stunned me. We need to rise to occasion as respect to freedom fighters who gave their all to secure for us freedom and democracy. I am at loss of words,” he said in a tweet.
“The vacant seat meant for CM @MamataOfficial at celebration of Independence Day at Raj Bhawan speaks volumes -has created unwholesome situation that is not in sync with rich culture and ethos of WB. There is just no rationale for this unbecoming stance,” he added.
However, Mamata Banerjee had paid a “courtesy visit” to the Governor after attending the Independence Day event at the Red Road.
“As we will not be able to attend the programme scheduled (at Raj Bhawan in the evening, we came here after the Red Road event even though we had no appointment. We had ‘adda’ (Bengali word for chat or conversation) with the Governor and greeted him on the occasion of Independence Day,” she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.