'Act within mandates of Constitution': Mamata Banerjee asks Bengal guv to refrain from ‘surpassing CM’

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and said he should remain within the mandate of the Constitution, expressing anguish over his letter to the state’s police chief over the law and order situation. In a nine-page letter, Banerjee said that the governor’s aspersions sadly consist of uncorroborated judgments and insinuations against the police and the state government. “I was extremely upset, anguished, and disillusioned on reading your captioned letter and the note addressed to the Director-General of Police which was placed before me, as well as to see your Twitter post regarding the same,” she said. “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, I am thus writing to you to express my deep pain and anguish at the excessive and blatant attempt at the usurpation of constitutional mandates and unwarranted excesses on your part,” she wrote. Dhankar had written to DGP Virendra earlier this month, expressing concern over the law and order situation in the state. After a two-line reply from the DGP, Dhankhar asked the state police chief to meet him by September 26 to impart details of the “alarming decline in law and order” and the steps required to tone it up. In her letter, Banerjee said the governor is an executive nominee of the President whereas “I am the elected representative of the people of West Bengal”. “…I request, aid, and advise you in the capacity of the Chief Minister of this state, to act within the mandates of the Constitution and refrain from acting on a political mandate, if any to destabilize a democratically elected government,” she said. “… refrain from surpassing the Chief Minister and her Council of Ministers and communicating with and dictating to State officials, in excess of your powers under the Constitution and directing them to attend before you,” she added.