COVID-19: Mamata Banerjee and the centre have been attacking each other over the central team.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been accused by the Governor of hiding details regarding COVID-19 cases in the state and asked her to come out with actual figures.
"Give up 'COVID-19 data cover up operation' @MamataOfficial and share it transparently," Governor Jagdeep Dhankar tweeted today.
He said the state's health bulletin on April 30 put the coronavirus cases at 572 and said there was no update the next day.
West Bengal has seen 795 coronavirus cases, including 33 deaths, as of Saturday morning, according to figures from the Union Health Ministry.
Mr Dhankar's comments drew a sharp report from Ms Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which said the "Raj Bhavan has been turned into a BJP party office."
"In a motivated way, he is violating the Constitution. According to it, he cannot even criticise the government. He has one agenda. How to attack Mamata Banerjee. Mamata Banerjee is so popular, he is jealous. Raj Bhavan has been turned into a BJP party office. In a calculated way, he is playing dirty. The governor is prime violator of the Constitution. Why doesn't he come and fight an election in Bengal?" Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee asked.
"Governor has no facts, no data. He is talking on basis of BJP claims," Bengal minister Jyotipriyo Mallick added.
BJP's Dilip Ghosh, backing the Governor, said, "He is doing his job. Hundreds are dying. The figures are so different between the centre and state. Mamata says she knows nothing about the audit committee. Central team is blocked. Only politics. Who will do administration?"
On Friday too, Mr Dhankar had hit out at Ms Banerjee, saying she considers herself to be a "state within a state".
Appealing to Ms Banerjee to refrain from politics at a time when everyone is fighting a global pandemic, the Governor told news agency ANI, "Mamata Banerjee considers herself as a state within a state. I urge her to not see everything through political glasses as then positive results won't come. I appeal to you to leave politics at this juncture."
He said Bengal is the only state where the central team faced problems in carrying out their work.
"West Bengal is the only state where the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) faced problems in carrying out their work. When the entire country is fighting against COVID-19 and the IMCT came to assess the situation, we should have received it with red carpet instead of opposing it," the Governor on Friday.
Mamata Banerjee and the centre have been attacking each other over the Inter-Ministerial Central Team's visit to Bengal. The centre has warned Bengal, citing the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and a Supreme Court order to say the Bengal government must comply with orders and co-operate with the central team.