The Governor, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, refused to relent and decided to continue with the two-hour-long voluntary power cuts at Raj Bhavan despite a request from the state power minister, Mr Mrinal Banerjee, to withdraw his decision.
According to sources close to the Governor, Mr Gandhi had taken this austerity measure to set an example and hence would like to continue with the power cuts at Raj Bhavan which he feels would enable power to be supplied elsewhere.
The state power minister, Mr Banerjee, today met the Governor at Raj Bhawan around 4:30 p.m. and briefed him about the latest power situation in the state, armed with statistics of both the state electricity board and CESC for the past two weeks beginning from 1 May. Mr Gandhi had announced his decision to initiate power cuts in Raj Bhavan on 6 May.
Later Mr Banerjee claimed: "The Governor told me that he should have spoken to me before taking the decision to switch off power voluntarily at Raj Bhavan. I requested him to reconsider his decision but he told me that he would like to wait and watch for a few days more."
