Mamata, Dhankhar hold one-on-one at Raj Bhavan

Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS) Amid continuous stream of confrontations between the West Bengal government and the Raj Bhavan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday called on Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and held an hour long one-on-one meeting with him. Signallling a thaw in the repeated standoffs, a smiling Banerjee arrived at the Raj Bhavan carrying a pack of sweets, and was greeted by Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh. Soon after the meeting, Dhankhar came out with a tweet, calling the interaction "extremely satisfying", and tagging the Chief Minister. "Had an extremely satisfying an hour long interaction with Hon'ble Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee at Raj Bhawan @MamataOfficial", said Dhankhar on his social media handle. Raj Bhavan sources said the two interacted on varied issues of governance. However, no further details were available. "The meeting was between the Chief Minister and the Governor. No officials were present as this was one to one meeting," the sources said. This was the first formal one-on-one between Banerjee and Dhankhar after the latter arrived in the state late July last year to take over his gubernatorial responsibility. Dhankhar has got into a series of confrontations with the Banerjee government on issues like law and order, education, health and other legislative and administrative matters. He has repeatedly complained that the government, including Chief Minister Banerjee, has not shown him due courtesy.
--IANS ssp/vd