The Raj Bhavan has requested Nabanna to remove Nandini Chakraborty, the principal secretary to governor C.V. Ananda Bose, from the post late on Sunday evening, a bureaucrat said.

“I heard that a request to this effect was sent from the Raj Bhavan.... For her removal, Nabanna has to issue an order and I am not sure whether any order has been issued to this effect,” the bureaucrat said, adding that he thinks the request might be accepted.

If Nabanna does decide to relieve Chakraborty, it will be the first instance in recent memory when a senior IAS officer — Chakraborty is a 1994 batch officer — is withdrawn from Raj Bhavan because of the governor’s request.

The Bengal BJP unit had been alleging that the principal secretary to Bose was misleading him and that was why he had been soft on the ruling establishment in the state.

Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar had called on the governor on Saturday. Majumdar had expressed satisfaction after meeting the governor who had issued a media release.

Although the Bengal BJP leaders were happy with the appointment of Bose — believed to be the personal choice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — they had been upset with him since he assumed the post last November. Several BJP leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, had criticised the governor for not doing enough “to restore democracy” in the state.

The BJP leaders had also accused him of not giving due importance to their complaints against the ruling party. “In the name of following the norms of co-operative federalism, he has been following the diktats of Nabanna,” said a BJP source, adding that the state party leaders had brought the matter to the notice of their central leaders.

For the Bengal BJP leaders, a source said, the tipping point came when the Raj Bhavan invited chief minister Mamata Banerjee to preside over a programme on January 26 in which Bose was initiated to the Bengali language. Adhikari had accused Chakraborty of being the brain behind that programme.

The BJP leaders were also upset when Bose heaped praise on the chief minister at a St Xavier’s University programme. “As the state BJP leaders targeted Chakraborty, it became untenable for Bose to continue with her and that’s why the Raj Bhavan has sought her removal,” said a source.

Mamata has cordial relations with Bose but it remains to be seen how she reacts to the request from Bose. “There is little doubt that a lot of political developments will take place over this in the next couple of days…. Even if the state government decides to pay heed to Bose’s request, the chief minister will not miss the opportunity to highlight how the BJP is trying to control the activities of the Raj Bhavan,” said a source in Nabanna.