Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, saying she felt sorry to see his frequent criticism of the Bengal administration and senior government officials before stressing that his constitutional obligation at this point was to support the state in maintaining peace.

“I am really sorry to see your frequent tweets and press briefings criticising the state government also involving the senior officers of the state... the Constitutional obligation in my view is to support the state government machinery to maintain peace and harmony rather than aggravating the situation by provoking the elements, who may attempt to disturb the order and tranquillity,” the chief minister wrote in her letter.

Sources said Mamata’s letter was drafted on Monday in response to the governor’s frequent tweets in the past three days over the state’s law and order. Besides tweeting indiscriminately — a rarity for a governor — Dhankhar also asked the chief secretary and the director general of police to brief him on the situation.

The Telegraph

The sources said the top brass of the government was not happy with the summon as they felt higher officials were usually asked to brief the governor when law and order went out of control.

Besides, the relationship between Nabanna and Raj Bhavan has soured over the last couple of months since the ruling establishment felt that Dhankhar has been crossing his constitutional brief and acting like a BJP leader.

Mamata has hardly reacted to what many believe as governor’s “hyperactivity”. But the sources said she had decided to respond on Monday as she felt Dhankhar’s repeated comments — in social media or otherwise — was aggravating the situation in Bengal.

“But in this case, the state ensured that sporadic violent protests don’t spread. So, the state felt the call was unwarranted and the top officials did not visit Raj Bhavan on Monday,” said another official.

Unlike in neighbouring Assam where at least seven lives were lost in the protests against the CAA, the Bengal administration has managed to keep the situation under control.

In her letter, the chief minister wrote that the prime focus of the state administration at the moment was to maintain peace.

“You would no doubt appreciate that the prime focus of the state administration at present is to maintain peaceful situation as against what is going on throughout the country,” she wrote, which, according to a bureaucrat, was her answer to why the top officials didn’t turn up for the meeting at Raj Bhavan.

Later in the evening, the governor replied to the letter saying the chief minister’s reflections were far from “fact situation” and urged her to “engage in soul searching”.

“I seek to remind you that I have all throughout taken steps in consonance with the Constitution and with respect to the present unfortunate crisis in which the state has landed, I have numerously appealed to the people and the government to do their utmost to maintain peace, avoid violence and adhere to the rule of law,” a letter of the governor reads.

The governor also tweeted in the evening that he was looking forward to meeting her on Tuesday in Raj Bhavan to get updates of the violent protests in the state.

It is still not clear whether she would visit Dhankhar. Trinamul MP Sougata Roy said it was more important for the chief minister to keep a tab on the developments across the state instead of meeting somebody over a cup of coffee.