Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday raised the issue of governor Jagdeep Dhankhar 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.

Mamata raised the issue while she was explaining why medical seats should be increased. She said the quota of IAS and IPS officers should also be increased for the state.

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.

“Nabanna has repeatedly expressed its displeasure over comments and activities of the governor before Delhi. As nothing has been done so far, the chief minister did not miss a chance to expose the governor,” said a senior government official.

The governor has reacted strongly to the chief minister's comments. While quoting what the chief minister had said about him during the programme, Dhankhar tweeted: “Is factually wrong and usual act of impropriety by CM.”

The recent tussle has its genesis in a letter the governor had sent to the chief secretary asking him to impart full details about the mechanism, modalities and the precise selection process to be followed for the recruitment of the consultants.

Sources said the governor had raised the issue as the advertisement seeking applications for about 50 posts of consultants in various departments mentioned that the selection would be done through “personality test”.

“The governor had raised some apparently valid questions.… If the Centre can recruit officers on lateral entry basis through UPSC, why would the state not do it through the WBPSC. The comments of the chief minister clearly state that the questions have left the state government in a spot,” said a retired bureaucrat.

A senior state government official said the recruitment process would be a transparent one and the governor would be informed about the entire process in due course of time.

During the programme, the chief minister also demanded that Bengal be given more Covid-19 vaccine doses as 40 per cent of the eligible people were yet to receive the second dose. In his speech, Modi said Bengal had received 11 crore vaccine doses.

Sources in Nabanna said that Bengal needed 14 crore vaccine doses to give two doses to all people over 18 years of age.
“Now, as vaccination for 15 to 18 years has started, the requirement would be much more,” said an official.

Although Modi inaugurated the campus on Friday, the chief minister did not forget to mention in her speech that the Prime Minister was inaugurating a facility that had already been “opened” by the state government. The state government had used the CNCI as a safe home last year.