Mamata targets govt for ‘vendetta politics’
Bengal CM attacks Modi, shah over transfer of state chief secretary, says BJP couldn’t digest TMC’s landslide victory
KOLKATA: Alleging that the BJPled Centre was pursuing “vendetta politics”, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday appealed to the Union government to withdraw its order recalling chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and allow the senior bureaucrat to work for people amid the Covid-19 crisis.
She also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah were trying to create problems for her government.
Her statements come a day after a row erupted over the CM skipping a review meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was in the state to take stock of the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas in the state.
“Because you (Modi and Shah) cannot digest BJP’s defeat in (Bengal), you have started creating problems for us from Day one. What is the fault of the chief secretary? Recalling the chief secretary amid the COVID crisis goes on to show that the Centre was indulging in political vendetta,” she said.
: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that she has been hurt by the continuous insults hurled at her by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following her meeting with PM Modi to review the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas. Mamata said that Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandhopadhyay was transferred as the BJP could not digest the landslide victory secured by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the recently concluded election.
She also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were trying to create problems for her government at every step as they were yet to come to terms with the defeat in assembly elections.
“Because you (Modi and Shah) cannot digest BJP’s defeat in (Bengal), you have started creating problems for us from Day one. What is the fault of the chief secretary?” Recalling the chief secretary amid the Covid crisis goes on to show that the Centre was indulging in political vendetta,” she asserted.
Banerjee further stated that she was ready to touch Modi’s feet if told to do for the sake of West Bengal’s growth and development.
She harshly criticised the BJP and said that one-sided story has been peddled regarding her absence from the review meet to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas. “The meeting was supposed to be held between the Prime Minister and the chief ministers of the states affected. I had to wait for a very long time
and despite that I met the Prime Minister and I did take his permission before leaving,” Mamata Banerjee said.
“The plans were changed and the meeting now had the leader of the opposition, MLAs from the BJP. I want to ask the PM that when he visited Gujarat last week did he call the leader of opposition in that state for the meeting. Every time the PM visits Bengal why is there such confrontation and confusion. Why should I sit in the meeting
when there are political parties who are not entitled to be a part of that meeting present there?,” Banerjee asked while holding a press conference at Nabanna.
Mamata Banerjee said that the Centre was humiliating her and she is ready to beg at the Prime Minister’s feet but demanded that this political vendetta should stop. Defending chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, Mamata Banerjee said that Alapan has no fault and it was improper to treat him in this manner despite his service to the nation as well as Bengal.
“Do you have any courtesy? (You have recalled him on) on his last day?” Mamata Banerjee asked. She also said that the BJP is unable to accept its defeat in Bengal. “You are not only disturbing me, you are also disturbing my secretariat. Why are you behaving like this? We have won by a landslide, is that your worry?” Banerjee said.
Alapan Bandopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, got an extension due to his experience in handling the Covid-19 pandemic in Bengal. His transfer order on Saturday led to a war of words between the BJP and the TMC.
Meanwhile, the chief minister also conducted an aerial survey of cyclone-hit areas in North and South 24 Parganas districts, and directed officials to ensure that all people affected by the calamity get relief materials.
She also inspected the beach area in the sea resort town of Digha in Purba Medinipur district which has been badly damaged by Cyclone Yaas and storm surge on Wednesday.
The chief minister also held administrative review meetings with officials of districts affected by the cyclone. “I do not want any of the affected people to be deprived of relief materials. Give them what they are supposed to get. Help them heartily and do not be a miser in this respect,” Banerjee told officials at such a meeting in Hingalganj in North 24 Parganas district.