When Lieutenant- Governor of Pondicherry N.N. Jha occasionally meets Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on the tennis court, it is not much of a match to watch. But off the court, the two are locked in a duel that has immense spectator interest. It all started this past week with Kamala Kannan, MLA and one of Rangasamy's trusted aides, dropping a bombshell by alleging that the lieutenant-governor has been spying on the chief minister. "Jha's office is tapping the chief minister's phones," he said and went on to produce a list of Jha's alleged "crimes":

Jha has spent more than Rs 1 crore on the renovation of Raj Nivas, his official residence;
He has accepted loads of gifts from industrialists and businessmen in Pondicherry;
He has been insisting that a new car be kept at his disposal in Delhi even when he was in Pondicherry;
He has been globetrotting with his wife at the expense of the taxpayer.
He interferes in the transfers and postings of officials and even circumvents the chief minister.

The final accusation in the list is the prime reason for the verbal duel, which the chief minister has preferred to fight through his proxy. Officials and politicians on both sides of the divide agree on two things: Jha is an active supporter of the BJP and that he is a proactive lieutenant-governor. The contention is only on whether he is justified in being so proactive, legally or by convention. Jha told India Today that there was a "marked difference between a governor and a lieutenant- governor. A post like mine was created by the British to take care of the administration. I am executing my rights and duties well within the limits".

Jha says he has spent only Rs 7.5 lakh on the renovation of Raj Nivas, which is 230 years old. "I have got a new Honda City car for use in the Pondicherry House in Delhi. All these were done as per the procedures and no one can point an accusing finger at me," says Jha. However, he has decided to resign. The BJP leadership, which instructed the governors it appointed to stay put, is learnt to have reversed its stance in the case of Jha.

Kannan's accusations, however, are not backed by any evidence. The chief minister himself doesn't endorse the allegation of phone-tapping. "All I can say is that there is no cooperation from Jha and there is lot of interference in postings and transfers," he says. But even while preparing to relinquish his post, Jha sounds defiant. "I know better than these people if something is wrong or not in the posting or devolution of powers to the bureaucracy. After all, I have been a bureaucrat for 47 years," Jha says.

Says V. Narayanasamy, the state Congress president: "It is but a convention that the governors and lieutenant governors resign or are removed once a new party comes to power at the Centre. I am of the policy that all those appointed by the BJP government be replaced. As for the allegations raised by Kannan, I have to speak to him before I forward the complaint to the Congress president and the prime minister."

Jha could cite rules and regulations in support of his actions, but has not yet been able to shrug off his pro-BJP acts. Haunting him still is the dinner he hosted on March 22 to which he invited Lalitha Kumaramangalam, the BJP candidate from the Pondicherry Lok Sabha seat. Soon after, he found himself in the vortex of a controversy when he permitted BJP chief M. Venkaiah Naidu's helicopter to land at an unscheduled spot in Pondicherry during the poll campaign. Jha sounds unruffled by the charges. "I am a member of the BJP. So what? I never allow my ideology to interfere with my duties. I take my assignment seriously."

Meanwhile, sources say the chief minister's problems do not stem from the lieutenant-governor's intransigence alone but also from his own party. There is a group within the Congress that supports Jha. Naturally, Rangasamy's fight against Jha could spur yet another bout of factionalism in the Pondicherry state Congress.