Didi asks Modi not to recall Chief Secretary

Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
Kolkata, May 29

Maintaining that the meeting held by PM Narendra Modi in Kalaikunda on Friday to discuss cyclone relief was “stuffed with BJP representatives” and was not between her and the PM, as was notified, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Saturday asked the Centre to withdraw its order recalling Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay to Delhi.

Addressing the media here, she alleged the PM and Union Home Minister were trying to create problems for her government as they were yet to come to terms with the BJP defeat in the Assembly elections. The CM said she was ready to touch Modi’s feet, if told to do so, for the sake of West Bengal’s development.

“Because you (Modi and Shah) cannot digest BJP’s defeat in Bengal, you have started creating problems for us. Recalling the Chief Secretary amid the Covid crisis shows the Centre is indulging in political vendetta,” the feisty TMC supremo said.

On her skipping the cyclone review meeting, Mamata explained: “It was originally decided that only the PM and CM would meet. Later, a revised list was given which looked like a big BJP team,” Mamata said, accusing the PM of creating “confusion and confrontation” each time he visited Bengal. The CM said that accompanied by the Chief Secretary, she met the PM and handed over the papers on cyclone losses. “I sought PM’s permission to leave as the weather was bad and I had to visit Digha. There was no need for me to be there. Anyway, the chairs were too far from where the PM was seated,” she held. Mamata, reportedly upset over the PM’s decision to invite Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari to the meeting, questioned him on not giving due recognition to the Opposition in Parliament. She also asked why Modi had not called the Opposition leader during his recent Gujarat visit. “The Opposition leader was not present at the Bhubaneswar meeting too,” she pointed out. Bandyopadhyay, who was to retire on May 31, was given a three-month extension on state government’s request. Mamata said the state government was not consulted prior to calling the CS back to New Delhi and that her government might explore legal options regarding the matter.

She said her government might explore legal options with regard to Bandyopadhyay’s transfer. Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh alleged the CM skipped meeting to avoid giving detail of her Rs 20,000 cr demand for cyclone relief.

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