Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar accused the state of spying on him
The Independence Day tiff between West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee escalated on Sunday, with Mr Dhankhar accusing the state government of placing Raj Bhavan - his official residence - under surveillance and "undermining the sanctity" of the institution.
"I would like to tell you all Raj Bhavan is under surveillance. It undermines the sanctity of the Raj Bhavan. I will do everything to protect its sanctity," Mr Dhankhar said at a press conference in Kolkata today.
"I have initiated a very serious, critical probe into it. Sanctity of Raj Bhavan's functioning has to be kept intact," he declared.
Ms Banerjee has not yet replied to or said a word about Mr Dhankhar's tweets.
Yesterday Ms Banerjee skipped the Governor's Independence Day tea party. The Chief Minister did, however, call on Mr Dhankar earlier in the day.
After the party the Governor tweeted declaring himself "startled and stunned" by her absence; he posted a photograph of an empty seat next to his and said the "vacant seat speaks volumes".
Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar tweeted a photo, attacking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, however, has issued a series of tweets attacking the Bengal governor, whom she referred to as "uncleji".
"Uncleji now claims he and West Bengal Raj Bhavan premises (are) under surveillance. Believe me, that's something your bosses from Gujarat do better than anyone else - any of us would be novices at it :-)" she said.
She also reminded the Governor Ms Banerjee had, in fact, visited him on the morning of Independence Day as she was unable to attend the evening's function.
The Krishnanagar MP also shared an unsigned list of 96 names (reportedly the guest list for Mr Dhankhar's function) and asked why so many had been invited for a tea party in the middle of a viral pandemic.
It is unclear if Ms Banerjee conveyed this concern to Mr Dhankhar when they met yesterday morning, but government sources have said the state was upset with the Governor over the number of people invited amid the pandemic.
Sources also said that normally between 300 and 400 people are invited to this function every year. This time though, after much deliberations, around 50 invitations were sent and around 35 attended.
Social distance was maintained, the sources said, adding that the Governor spent about 45 minutes with the guests and the party ended a little after 6 PM.