Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said he would be “forced to look at Article 154”, if the Constitution was not protected in the state.

Article 154 (executive power of state) says: “The executive power of the state shall be vested in the governor and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution.”

“If the Constitution is not protected, I will have to act. The office of the governor has been ignored here for long. I will be forced to look at Article 154 of the Constitution,” the governor told a media conference.

Dhankhar’s statement came two days after chief minister Mamata Banerjee sent him a letter urging him to act “within the mandates” of the Constitution. The state government had also refused to sanction around Rs 50 lakh additional funds to run the Raj Bhavan.

Sources in Nabanna said the government was not taking the governor’s threat seriously.

For exercising executive power “directly”, the imposition of the President’s rule through Article 356 is a must…. There is no deeper significance to this, nor a cause for worry,” said a senior state government official.