‘He is speaking like a block president of the BJP’

West Bengal witnessed an unprecedented political showdown on Tuesday with Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee indulging in a public spat.

At a press meet she called after Mr. Tripathi raised the communal flare-up at Baduria in the North 24 Parganas during a telephonic talk, the Chief Minister accused the Governor of “threatening and insulting” her. At one point, she was unable to take the “humiliation” and felt like “quitting” her post, she claimed.

“Today, the Governor told me a lot of things. I am feeling insulted. The Governor’s is a constitutional post. I have come to power through the mandate of the people… I am not in power at the mercy of the Governor,” Ms. Banerjee said.

“He [the Governor] is speaking like a block president of the BJP… He has called and threatened me... He cannot do that. He should understand that he is a nominated person. He should maintain his respect also,” she said.

Nothing wrong: Tripathi

Mr. Tripathi said, in a press statement, that there was nothing in the conversation, for “which the Hon’ble Chief Minister may have felt insulted, threatened or humiliated.”

Mr. Tripathi said he was “surprised at the attitude and language used by the Chief Minister.”

“The talk between the Hon’ble Chief Minister and the Hon’ble Governor was confidential in nature and none is expected to disclose it,” the statement said.

Observing that the Governor cannot remain a mute spectator to the affairs of the State, the statement said it is “proper for the Hon’ble Governor to bring to the notice of the Hon’ble Chief Minister any serious grievance made by any member of [the] public or any serious event happening in the State.”

Earlier in the day a delegation of BJP leaders had met Mr. Tripathi and expressed strong concerns over the developments at Baduria, where a Facebook post had triggered tension. Following the meeting the Governor had called up the CM.