KOLKATA: Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar spent two hours at chief minister Mamata Banerjee ’s Kalighat residence on Sunday evening during Kali Puja ceremonies. “Anyone who comes to a Puja comes with a pure heart and leaves it with a purer heart,” he said while leaving.

Dhankhar said he had a “great time” at the CM’s residence, adding, “Our gestures fully matched”.

The governor’s presence at the CM’s home drew senior state functionaries — state education and parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee, speaker Biman Banerjee , chief secretary Rajeeva Sinha, DGP Virendra, and special security advisor (SSA) Surajit Kar Purkayastha — to her Harish Chatterjee Road residence.

Dhankhar reached her home with his wife, Sudesh, around 6.10pm. Banerjee first took them to her modest room “for two minutes” before seating him where the puja was being performed. In the room, which is furnished with only a bed and three plastic chairs, she offered them seats on the chairs and had a brief conversation.

The governor appeared visibly happy with her personal gesture, even more so when Banerjee personally took the panchapradip after sandhya-aarati to him and his wife. MP Abhishek Banerjee , who later performed yagna, also touched his feet. Several times, when Banerjee walked up to the puja to help with the rituals (she had been cooking the bhog in the morning), the governor was seen talking to Chatterjee and other state functionaries.

Initially, when Banerjee introduced Chatterjee to the governor, the latter smiled and told the chief minister, “You know he has a daughter. I, too, have a daughter.”

Dhankhar left at 8.20pm. He was scheduled to attend the puja ceremonies in Dakhineshwar later at night. “I am overwhelmed and touched,” he told the media before leaving.

Raj Bhavan’s outreach to the CM comes after some instances of acrimonious wars of words. The wrangling match started escalating after the governor set a precedent by reaching out to the Jadavpur University campus to “rescue” Union minister Babul Supriyo during a students’ agitation. It became worse after Dhankhar expressed dismay over a “black-out” of the “first servant of the state” on TVs during the Durga Puja carnival on Red Road, and over the “absence” of senior state officials in districts, when he had sought meetings with them during his district tours. The CM, however, stayed away from the verbal duel, leaving it to party seniors — primarily Chatterjee, the party secretary-general — to respond to the governor’s remarks. But they also went silent after a point of time.

The governor had sought the CM’s time on Bhatridwitiya on October 29. She she cited preoccupations on that day and welcomed him to her home for Kali Puja.

Banerjee, who rarely steps out of her home since she started Kali Puja there in 1978, did not speak to the media. Senior party leaders, too, remained tightlipped about the governor’s visit.

