“Extremely upset, anguished, disillusioned” by letter, Mamata Banerjee asks Governor to remain “within the mandate” of the Constitution

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar asking him to remain “within the mandate of the Constitution” and expressed anguish over the letter he had written to the DGP over the law and order situation in the state.

In the nine-page letter, Banerjee wrote: “I was extremely upset, anguished and disillusioned on reading your captioned letter and note addressed to the Director General of Police which was placed before me, as well as your Twitter post regarding the same”. Dhankhar had written to the DGP Virendra earlier this month expressing concern about the law and order situation in the state.

She wrote that as per Article 163, “you are mandated to act as per the aid and advice of your Chief Minister and her Council of Ministers which is the essence of our democracy”. She added that she was thus writing to the Governor to express “my deep pain and anguish at the excessive and blatant attempt at usurpation of constitutional mandates and unwarranted excesses on your part”.

After the DGP’s reply to the his query, Dhankhar had asked the police chief to meet him by September 26 to give him details on the “alarming decline in law and order” and the steps being taken for it. Banerjee in her letter said that the governor is “an executive nominee of the President and I am the elected representative of the people of West Bengal”.

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