Mahua Moitra trades nepotism charge on Jagdeep Dhankhar, Bengal Guv denies

Moitra on Sunday accused Dhankhar of having his relatives appointed to various posts in the Governor House, which the ruling party of West Bengal dubs as "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party office".

She tweeted, "And Uncleji- while you’re at it- take the extended family you’ve settled in at WB RajBhavan with you."

Rejecting the allegation, Dhankhar, who is at the loggerheads with the TMC, said Moitra's charge is a tactic to divert people's attention from the "alarming" situation of law and order in West Bengal.

Dhankhar tweeted, "Assertion @MahuaMoitra in tweet & Media that six coterminous appointee OSDs in personal staff are relatives is FACTUALLY WRONG. OSDs are from three states and belong to four different castes. None of them is part of close family. Four of them are not from my caste or state."

"This is unfolding of “distraction strategy” to divert attention from alarming law and order scenario @MamataOfficial. Would continue undeterred and with zeal to serve the people of state and vindicate my oath of office under Article 159 of the Constitution."

Hitting back at the Governor, who is cynical of the Mamata Banerjee government in the state, Moitra, the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha MP, tweeted, "Asking Uncleji to lay out right here what antecedents of the appointees are & how each one got into Raj Bhavan. Do it NOW. BJP IT Cell can’t get you out of this one Uncleji.. And I don’t think Vice President of India also happening for you."

Dhankhar over the last several weeks has slammed the TMC government, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, over the post-poll violence in the state.

Within minutes after Banerjee's oath, Dhankhar and the Chief Minister were caught in a war of words after the former suggested to the administrative head to play a neutral role in dealing with the law and order situation.