As WB burns, Mamata, Governor indulge in war of words

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday evening wrote to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar saying it the governor's obligation to support the state government to maintain peace and not aggravate the situation through his provocations.

Banerjee expressed her sadness over his taking to the Twitter frequently to criticise of her government and urged the governor to cooperate with it to maintain peace in the state.

"I am really sorry to see your frequent tweets and press briefings criticising the state government and also involving the senior officers of the state," Banerjee wrote to Dhankhar.

Dhankhar asked Banerjee over the micro blogging site during the day to personally update him on Tuesday about the current situation in the state in view of the violence over the amended Citizenship Act.

He has been at loggerheads with the Trinamool Congress government in the state soon after taking up office in July end over a number of issues and had taken to expressing his views a number of times over Twitter.

The governor had on Monday also expressed his displeasure on Twitter at the state's chief secretary and the director general of police's failure to turn up despite his summons to them to brief him on the prevailing unrest in parts of the state. He had described their absence as "unfortunate and unexpected".

Banerjee in her letter said "You (Dhankhar) 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".

"The (governor's) constitutional obligation in my view is to support the state government machinery to maintain peace and harmony rather than aggravating the situation by provoking elements who may attempt to disturb the order and tranquility," she said.

"Please cooperate to maintain peace," Banerjee added.

Dhankar took to the Twitter yet agains to give his reply. He tweeted, "My response to the letter of the chief minister has been sent. Looking forward to meeting her tomorrow. Urged her to work in tandem and togetherness in public interest and engage in soul searching".

Dhankhar had summoned the two top officials of the state on Sunday.

Top sources in the state administration said the chief secretary and the DGP would brief the governor at an "appropriate time".

Violent protests over the amended Citizenship Act continued to rock parts of West Bengal for the third consecutive day. Several incidents of vandalism and arson were reported from different districts.