West Bengal’s political temperature shot up several notches this weekend after Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee levelled explosive allegations that arms and ammunition were being distributed from Raj Bhavan—a charge that Governor CV Ananda Bose dismissed as “a blind man searching in the dark for a black cat that is not there”.

The unprecedented accusation, delivered at a public event in Hooghly, accused the Governor of “entertaining BJP criminals in Raj Bhavan” and allegedly “giving them weapons to attack TMC workers”.

Banerjee went further, calling Bose an “incompetent governor” and a “BJP servant governor”, declaring that “nothing good will happen in Bengal as long as such a Governor is in office”.

Raj Bhavan hit back with equal force, issuing a late-evening statement on Saturday that opened the historic building to public scrutiny at dawn.

In a dramatic gesture rarely seen in India’s constitutional history, Governor Bose announced that civil society members, journalists (up to 100), and even the MP himself could walk into the Raj Bhavan from 5 am on Sunday to inspect the premises for “any trace of arms and ammunition”.

“If his allegation is not correct, then the MP has the decent option to apologise to the people of Bengal,” the statement read. “If he refuses, then legal options for hate speech are on the table.”

On Sunday morning, as television crews streamed into the Raj Bhavan grounds, Bose doubled down. “Searching for arms and ammunition here is like a blind man searching in the dark for a black cat that is not there,” he told ANI.

“These allegations have serious implications. When a ruling party MP says arms are stocked inside Raj Bhavan, is he expressing lack of confidence in the Kolkata Police who guard this premises? Or is this a case of inner-party tussle?”

The Governor went on to raise sharp questions about the state government’s security apparatus.

“To say arms have been smuggled into the Raj Bhavan is to imply that the Kolkata Police—the same force providing Z-plus protection to the Governor—is conniving in it.”

According to Raj Bhavan officials, security officers even advised the Governor to temporarily shift to a safer location until the allegations were probed. Bose reportedly refused, stating: “I will be in Raj Bhavan, come what may.”

Meanwhile, the Governor has formally written to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha seeking an inquiry into Banerjee’s remarks, arguing that the charges amount to a direct attack on a constitutional office.

The controversy arises on the back of chronic friction between the Raj Bhavan and the Trinamool Congress government.

However, even in Bengal’s famously fiery political landscape, a sitting MP accusing the Governor’s House of “weapon distribution” marks a new escalation with no historical precedent.

As Bengal braces for yet another round of political slugfest, one thing is clear: the Raj Bhavan gates have been thrown open, but the political battle has only just begun.