Punjab Governor Says Government "Acting Against Constitution", Bhagwant Mann Hits Back

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Monday accused the AAP government of acting against Constitution for not responding to his letters, asserting that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is bound to reply to the Raj Bhavan.

Hours after Mr Purohit's remarks, Mann posted a video of the governor's address on his Twitter handle to stress that Governor Purohit has stopped referring to the AAP-led state government as "my government" at the instance of the opposition party in the House on March 3.

Mr Mann asked the governor to explain why he had "failed" to discharge his constitutional duty by not using the word "my government" during his address.

The chief minister said it is unfortunate that "in the present Central regime, selected ones are unnecessarily peeping into the affairs of the elected ones".

Undue hiccups are being raised to derail the smooth functioning of the state government, alleged Mann in a statement.

The "gubernatorial" Raj Bhavans are now acting as the state headquarters of the BJP which is a very dangerous trend for Indian democracy, the Aam Aadmi Party leader alleged.

Earlier, speaking to reporters here, Mr Purohit said the CM Mann government has not replied to his letters even after the Supreme Court's directions in this regard.

"Not even a single reply to my 10 letters has been given, they are acting against Constitution," said Mr Purohit.

Referring to the Supreme Court order, the governor said as per the supreme court, the state government is bound to furnish information as sought by the Governor.

"You know what the direction of the Supreme Court is. The SC said it is 101 per cent obligatory for the chief minister to give a reply to whatever the governor has asked. It is written in clear words (in the order)," asserted Governor Purohit.

The governor recalled that when he had sought information on some issues, the CM had said that his government was only answerable to 3 crores 'Punjabis'.

In February, a row erupted between the governor and the AAP government after the former had sought certain details, including the process of selecting 36 government school principals for a training seminar in Singapore.

Later, the AAP government moved to SC after accusing the governor of "refusing" to summon the assembly session.

When asked that CM Mann had claimed that the Governor had refused to refer to the state government as "my government" in his address in the assembly in March, Mr Purohit said he has no hesitation in calling the AAP-led state government, "my government".

"I am the governor. All the orders are issued in my name. Why will I not say so? I have no reservation. Not only once, I say it 50 times, it is my government," he said.

Later, the CM posted the video on his Twitter handle and said initially, the governor had referred to the state government as "my government" in his address.

"But at the instance of the opposition, the governor started saying government only. When I told you about the Supreme Court decision that whatever is written that has to be stated, then you started saying 'my government'," said Mr Mann in his tweet.

Replying to a question on the special session called by the Punjab government on June 19 and 20, Mr Purohit said he will give his permission, adding, "I have no problem".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)