Mamata Banerjee blocked Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Twitter on Monday with the Bengal chief minister announcing her move by rolling out the do’s and don’ts of a governor.

“Policy decision is the government’s responsibility, not his. He will inaugurate the Assembly sessions, garland Ambedkar’s statue, give brief speeches. If Bills are sent to him to be signed, first time he can clarify any doubts, next time he has to sign it. That is all he has to do,” said Mamata, addressing a news conference at the state secretariat in Howrah.

Having been blocked by the chief minister, the governor will not be able to see the tweets from Mamata, neither can he tag her any longer in photos that he shares.

"I apologise for it in advance. He (Jagdeep Dhankhar) tweets something every day abusing me or my officers. Says unconstitutional, unethical things. He instructs not advises. Treats an elected government like bonded labour. That's why I have blocked him from my Twitter account. I was getting irritated," Mamata said

Raj Bhavan had not issued any formal reaction to the chief minister’s move at the time of publishing this report. But Dhankhar tweeted in response: "Mandated under Article 159 of the Constitution to ensure none in the state “blocks” Constitutional Norms and Rules of Law and those in authority “bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India."

Mamata’s blocking the Governor on the micro-blogging platform came on the same day when Trinamul MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay verbally complained to President Ramnath Kovind to remove Dhankhar from Raj Bhawan in Calcutta to save "democracy in Bengal".

“Every day he tweets making one or the other accusations and seeks explanation from the officers. I wrote four letters to the Prime Minister seeking his removal. I was not consulted when he was appointed,” Mamata said.

On Sunday, Dhankhar had tweeted, "CM ⁦@MamataOfficial is constitutionally ordained to discharge “duty” under Article 167 of constitution to impart information on Pandemic Purchase Scam and other issues. Guv conveyed that no information, once sought by him, can be screened by the Government. "

Food from hotel

Mamata alleged on Monday that the governor orders food from a private hotel in South Calcutta. "Have we ever questioned that bill?" she asked.

“When Jyoti Basu was chief minister, Dharam Veera was removed as he did not sign few files. For more than a year, we didn’t say anything. He has stalled the appointment of Human Rights Commission chairman, Lokayukta, RTI members. People of Howrah and Bally are deprived of civic amenities because of him. Will he take decisions?” a furious Mamata asked.

Soon after Mamata's announcement, several Trinamul leaders announced on Twitter, they were blocking governor Dhankhar.

‘Why are officials silent?’

A week ago, the Governor in a programme at the Assembly in the presence of speaker Biman Banerjee had questioned why the state government and its officers did not respond to questions raised by him.

Dhankhar’s tenure at Raj Bhawan, which started during Mamata Banerjee’s second term in office, has been one of an unending series of salvoes fired from both sides.

The public spat between Mamata and Dhankhar started with then Asansol MP from BJP Babul Supriyo heckled at Jadavpur University. Mamata had allegedly not taken the governor's call to send police to escort Babul out of the campus in 2019, the leader, who has since joined the Trinamul, had alleged.

Since then, the governor has been shooting off letters one after the other to the state administration including the chief minister and the chief secretary, on issues that have the potential to land the state government into a spot of trouble.

In recent times, the governor had raised objections on the appointments of vice-chancellors in 24 universities across the state. He had also been critical of the ruling Trinamul’s approach to post-poll violence.

Undermining constitutional morality: CPM

The CPM’s reaction to Mamata‘s move was predictably critical. "Blocking someone on social media is a personal issue. But, constitutionally the Governor is the appointing authority of the council of ministers including the CM & the government runs on the pleasure of the office of the Governor. Can the CM change it? CM boasting about blocking the governor smacks of undermining the constitutional morality, said Sujan Chakraborty, CPM central committee member.

Complaint to PM

Early in January, Mamata raised the issue of the governor questioning the state government’s appointments of some senior consultants and consultants through lateral entry before Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a virtual programme to inaugurate the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute at Rajarhat.

“We are trying to follow the advice you have given to recruit officers from outside due to the scarcity of IAS and IPS officers…. But the governor raised questions over the process. He doesn’t know that we are trying to accept the advice of the Prime Minister,” said the chief minister while speaking during the programme in the presence of Modi on January 7.

Sources aware of the development said the chief minister raised the issue to let the Prime Minister know the governor was even raising questions on initiatives taken on the basis of the Centre’s advice.