The sealed letter that the governor sent the chief minister close to midnight on Saturday is "personal" and wishes her "well" ahead of her trip to Spain, Mamata Banerjee said on Monday.
When asked the chief minister whether she had responded to the letter, she said: “He has not written anything urgent. I am going abroad. Therefore, he has conveyed to me his best wishes. This is absolutely personal.”
When Mamata was told that the governor, the ex-officio chancellor of state-aided universities, had said on Monday that it is for the recipient of the letter to speak on the content, the chief minister said: “As I told you, he has conveyed my best wishes for my foreign trip."
Reminded that the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, had demanded that the letter's contents be disclosed, Mamata said: “I cannot disclose a personal letter. This is confidential and personal. This is nothing related to the government."
Governor C.V. Ananda Bose said in the morning: “What is confidential should remain confidential. In a letter, there is a sender and a recipient. I can only say that I sent a letter. The recipient has to say what is the reaction to that. Whatever has been sent to the state, this is not the time to discuss this because my honourable constitutional colleague, the chief minister, is going abroad.
“I do not want any tension to be given to her. Let her not take any baggage when she is on a foreign tour. We will discuss it once she returns. I feel very happy here, to work here.”
However, the governor sought to refute the allegation that he was sitting on files sent to him by the state government.
The chief minister and education minister Bratya Basu have on several occasions accused the governor of dilly-dallying over files, like the bill seeking to make the chief minister the chancellor instead of the governor.
Bose said: “The file has been dispensed with in the appropriate manner. Eight files were said to be pending in the Raj Bhavan. Regarding all seven, I raised certain clarifications and sent them to respective government departments. It is pending with the government, not with the Raj Bhavan. One bill is pending, that can be dealt with ex-posto based on the Supreme Court judgments, and judgments of the Calcutta High Court. And whatever is subjudice, cannot be acted upon without going through the final decisions of the courts.”
A case has been filed in the Calcutta High Court challenging the inclusion of a chief minister nominee in the search committee for vice-chancellors.
The education department has moved the Supreme Court, challenging the chancellor’s authority to appoint officiating VCs unilaterally in the universities.
Told about education minister Basu's post on X on Saturday afternoon — “See till midnight, see the action” BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! New Vampire in the town!” — hours after the governor threw a midnight challenge at the state government, Bose said: “I won’t comment on what a junior appointee has said.”
The education minister declined to comment when Metro sought his reaction.
The governor was asked if he thought that IAS and IPS officers in Bengal were biased. “Some are, not all,” he said.
In a video message last Thursday he alleged that IAS officers of the education department had threatened five officiating VCs.
The department has sought a response from the five.