Calcutta, May 14: The Bengal government today tried to enlighten the governor and requested him to withdraw the “voluntary power cut”, but Gopalkrishna Gandhi has said he would make his own assessment before taking the final decision.

“I requested the governor to withdraw his decision on the voluntary power cut. But the governor told me that he would not withdraw it immediately. He will make a review after a few days and take the final decision later,” power minister Mrinal Banerjee said after a meeting with Gandhi this afternoon.

A spokesperson for Raj Bhavan said: “The meeting lasted about half an hour from 4.30pm. The governor told the minister that he would wait for a few days before reviewing his decision.”

An hour after the meeting — apparently convened on the request of the governor — power was switched off at Raj Bhavan between 6pm and 7pm.

The minister claimed that soon after he entered Raj Bhavan, the governor told him that he had committed a mistake by not consulting the power department before deciding to switch off lights.

“The governor told me that he should have consulted us before taking the decision and that it was a mistake on his part. Then I asked him why he took the decision. He told me that he had to visit many places and meet people and he felt bad when people complained to him about power cuts,” the minister said.

“The governor admitted to me that the power situation in Bengal was better compared to many other states,” Banerjee claimed.

Asked whether Gandhi did make the statements attributed to him by the minister, the governor’s office said no comment would be made to the media on this score.

Banerjee said the governor also told him that by switching off power in Raj Bhavan for two hours, he was conserving electricity. “I told him that it was not the correct method to conserve energy. I also told him that if he was really interested in conservation of electricity, I was willing to send experts across to advise him in this regard,” the power minister added.

Banerjee said he had received a call from the governor’s office yesterday requesting him to meet Gandhi this afternoon. CPM veteran Jyoti Basu, while describing the governor’s gesture as “childish”, had said that Gandhi should have sought details from the power minister before announcing the power cut.

“A meeting was fixed for 4.30pm today and I took with me all documents relating to the power situation in the state since May 1 and pointed out to the governor that there has been insignificant loadshedding so far this month,” Banerjee said.

The minister said he explained to the governor that the “insignificant” disruption was because of Nor’westers and cable faults. “I showed him the documents prepared and brought him up-to-date on the power situation,” he added.