Mamata Banerjee calls out governor KN Tripathi for acting 'like a BJP block president'

Levelling a series of sensational allegations against West Bengal governor KN Tripathi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused him of “threatening” and “insulting” her. “He threatened me over phone. The way he spoke taking the side of BJP, I felt insulted. I have told him that he cannot talk like this,” an angry Banerjee told media persons at the state secretariat.. [caption id=“attachment_3747395” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Mamata Banerjee. PTI[/caption] Banerjee, who is known for her impulsive behaviour, also slammed Tripathi, saying that he was behaving like a “block president of BJP”. “He talked big on law and order. I am not here at the mercy of anyone. The way he spoke to me, I once thought of leaving (the chair),” she said. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress have been at loggerheads with the BJP government at the Centre ever since she came to power in 2016 by winning 211 seats out of 294 in the West Bengal Assembly.

#BREAKING -- West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee says she has been severely humiliated by Bengal Governor KN Tripathi pic.twitter.com/qTHnyPNt4j

— News18 (@CNNnews18) July 4, 2017

Banerjee’s TMC also survived a barrage of attacks from BJP during the civic polls in 2017 during which the party won four of seven municipal bodies in West Bengal. The party also snatched the Mirik in the hills of Darjeeling from BJP ally Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). Darjeeling is currently faced with agitation with GJM demanding separate Gorkhaland. Banerjee was also one of the harshest critics of the Narendra Modi government’s decision to demonetise old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in November 2016. She had also accused the BJP government of conspiring against her when a plane carrying the West Bengal chief minister was made to rover above Kolkata for 30-40 minutes despite being on low fuel. With inputs from agencies