Bengal governor sends confidential letters to CM, union govt: sources

Amid a tussle between the West Bengal government and Raj Bhavan over the appointment of interim vice-chancellors for state universities by governor C.V. Ananda Bose, the latter has reportedly sent "confidential" letters to the state secretariat and the union government on Saturday, 9 September.

The information about the confidential letters was communicated to various media persons between 11.42 pm and 11.50 pm on 9 September. Though Raj Bhavan did not divulge details about the content of the communications, speculation is doing the rounds over the matter. 

Raj Bhavan sources have confirmed that one of two communiques have been forwarded to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, though they remained vague on the exact department under the union government where the governor's second communique has been forwarded.

The development came at a time when Banerjee was attending the G20 summit dinner in New Delhi. 

On 7 September, when Bose was questioned about his recent tussle with the secretariat on the issue of appointing vice-chancellors to state universities of which the governor is de facto chancellor, the governor responded: "Wait for the stroke of the midnight hour today."

In the evening, chief secretary HK Dwivedi went to Raj Bhavan and had a meeting with Bose that lasted for over an hour. However, neither the governor nor the chief secretary communicated details discussed at the meeting.