Mamata blocks Bengal Governor on Twitter
West Bengal's firebrand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar have clashed once again, this time over the latter's "the state is turning into a gas chamber of democracy" remark.
On Monday, Mamata blocked the governor from her microblogging platform Twitter's handle, claiming she was "getting irritated" by Dhankhar's repeated "unconstitutional" and "unethical" comments.
"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," Mamata told the media in West Bengal capital Kolkata.
The state's top constitutional figure – appointed by the federal government – and the head of the Bengal government have been at loggerheads on several occasions over political and governance issues in the past three years.
Earlier too, the state had witnessed ugly spats between the two, with Mamata accusing the Governor of "attempting to destabilise the elected government" of her ruling Trinamool Congress party at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In May last year, Mamata single-handedly pulled off a landslide victory in the state election for the third time in a row, bucking anti-incumbency and staving off a massive challenge from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP.