Tension ran high at the Swasthya Bhavan as protesting doctors rejected the Mamata Banerjee government’s second invitation for talks over the RG Kar rape-murder case on Wednesday.

“Discussions can’t happen with conditions. There is no response from the junior doctors, so no discussion could happen. We expected they would come. I hope they heed the directives of the Supreme Court and our appeal and rejoin their duty. But we are disheartened with their reply.” State Chief Secretary Manoj Pant said in a press conference on Wednesday evening.

“We are committed to provide and safe and secure environment to our junior doctors.. We want them to come back to work. They will see a change. They shouldn’t take the wrong path. Our objectives are the same.” Acting Director-General of Police, Rajeev Kumar said in the press conference.

TMC minister Chandrima Bhattacharya reminded the junior doctors that they should heed to the Supreme Court directives. “We emailed at 6.10 pm on Tuesday. But they didn’t want to talk. They replied at 3.45 am. Is this correct? Are they politically motivated?”

“We have received the order from the chief secretary. We stay true to our original demands and the discussion should be held according to our terms. We will send a team of 30 delegates and the meeting will be live telecasted for transparency. The meeting should be emphasised in the presence of the hon’ble chief minister,” said a protesting doctor of NRS Medical College to The Telegraph Online.

On Wednesday afternoon, the West Bengal government invited the agitating junior doctors for talks on the ongoing impasse at 6 pm today. The invitation followed an email sent by the medics earlier early Wednesday morning.

“It is expected that good sense will prevail and you will resume duties immediately in compliance of the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order. On Behalf of the State Government we appeal to you to join duties and provide proper treatment and care to the common people.” State Chief Secretary Manoj Pant said in the letter in the afternoon.

“Once again, as another opportunity, we invite your delegation- preferably consisting of 12-15 colleagues- to join us for a discussion at 6.00 pm today in Nabanna.” The letter reads. The letter didn’t clarify whether the meeting will be chaired by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or not.

Major point of contention for the junior doctors was the email invite for discussions from principal health secretary N.S. Nigam, whose resignation the junior doctors demand. The email limited the number of participants for a meeting with the government to 10. The message was also delivered verbally through police officials, the doctors said.

“The email that came from N.S. Nigam was very demeaning as a maximum of 10 people were allowed to go for a meeting,” said one protesting doctor who did not wish to be identified to The Telegraph Online. “They were constantly trying to contact us through police officials. We are demanding the resignation of N.S. Nigam himself. How can we attend a meeting with him?”

The protests, which have been ongoing for over a month, intensified on Tuesday when the doctors marched to the state health department, listing their demands for the state government. The sit-in of the protesters continued well past the Supreme Court’s 5pm deadline, as they refused to back down until their demands were met.