CENTRE-STATE TUSSLE IN WB CHALLENGE TO FEDERAL SYSTEM, SAYS SHIV SENA

MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre of indulging in ‘third class’ politics instead of solving the nation’s problems while referring to the Centre’s recent tussles with the West Bengal government in a Sunday editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

“The ongoing Centre-state tussle is a challenge to the federal system of governance. It’s true that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is very hurt by its crushing defeat in the recently concluded West Bengal polls, but then, there is no need for the Central government to take this defeat by heart,” said Sena MP Sanjay Raut in his weekly column ‘Rokthok’.

He said the face-off between the Bengal government and the Centre over former Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay’s resignation was like “women fighting over water at the common water tap”.

Bandopadhyay was caught in the middle of a political firestorm after chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bandopadhyay decided to skip a scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kalaikunda airbase to review the damage brought about by Cyclone Yaas on May 28, upsetting the Centre.

Bandopadhyay, a 1987-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of West Bengal cadre, was set to retire on May 31 but the state asked Centre for a three month extension of his tenure, which was granted but with an order to report to the department of training and personnel in New Delhi by 10am on May 31, his last working day. Bandopadhyay chose to retire and was subsequently appointed as the CM Mamata Banerjee’s chief adviser.

Centre then show caused the officer for skipping the meeting with the PM and also made vigilance clearance mandatory earlier this month for states or government departments offering post-retirement jobs to bureaucrats.

Raut also said that former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta’s-who resigned from the Upper House in March to contest the West Bengal assembly elections--renomination to Rajya Sabha after loss in Bengal assembly polls was unprecedented.

“Dasgupta has been nominated by the President. This man had resigned from the Rajya Sabha to contest the assembly polls. He was defeated and within one month, he was renominated again. This has never happened in the history of the Rajya Sabha ever since it was founded in 1952,” said Raut. BJP legislator Ram Kadam called the Sena’s support to Banerjee as unfortunate.

“Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray always stood against anti-hindu baiters and here we see the Sena today supporting Mamata who is against the Hindus. The Sena is going against the ideals of their founder,” said Kadam.

He said that Modi was building the Central Vista project for the nation and has no personal stakes in the whole project.