West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar fanned a new controversy as he tweeted on Wednesday that he was trying to “read between the lines” of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s advice for college and university teachers ‘to come to her directly in case of any problem and not to be unduly bothered about what someone else tells them’.

Dhankhar and  Banerjee government remain at loggerheads on several occasions. He directly targeted Banerjee by tagging her in the tweet in which he also claimed that all his actions as a governor and chancellor were in tune with the constitution and University Acts.

He took to Twitter and said, “@MamataOfficial. Making an earnest effort to read between the lines. All my actions as Governor and Chancellor are as scripted in the Constitution and Acts of Universities.”

Addressing college and university teachers during an official programme on Tuesday, Banerjee had said, “Don’t be unduly bothered if somebody calls and tells you something”. Though Banerjee did not name the governor, it was apparent that she was indirectly referring to Dhankhar, who has been pro-active in calling university authorities and visiting campuses in his capacity as ex-officio chancellor.

She further said, “The Constitution has empowered the elected governments. The Central government is also elected government. You concentrate on your work. If you have any problem tell me directly”.

Banerjee reminded the academicians that her government was elected just like the one at the Centre and  reiterated it  during a meeting with the vice-chancellors also.

A few days back she had pulled up the vice-chancellor of a university for keeping her government in the dark about some issues and instead “discussing it elsewhere” (read governor).

Dhankhar, who took oath as the governor of West Bengal on July 30, had been at loggerheads with the state government over several issues — ranging from his seating arrangement at the Durga Puja carnival to security upgrade — since he rushed to Jadavpur University on September to “rescue” Union minister Babul Supriyo, who was being “heckled” by a section of students.

A controversy had erupted in October after a TMC leader, who was the chief patron of a club in Barasat near here, stepped down from the post after it invited the governor to inaugurate the Kali Puja.

Sunil Mukherjee, the chairman of TMC-run Barasat Municipality, had said he was unhappy with the club’s move as the “governor had a bias against the state government”.

Now and then friction between Dhankhar and the Banerjee administration can be seen frequently, grabbing public attention.