BENGAL EX-CHIEF SECY RESPONDS TO CENTRE NOTICE

KOLKATA: Former West Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay on Thursday responded to the Union home ministry’s show-cause notice sent to him for missing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s May 28 meeting, said officials at Nabanna, the state secretariat in Kolkata.

State officials told PTI that Bandyopadhyay argued that he left the Cyclone Yaas review meeting as per the directive of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and went to another meeting in Digha, a resort town in Purba Medinipur district that was ravaged by the powerful storm.

The Centre sent the notice on May 31, insisting that Bandyopadhyay’s decision to leave the PM’s meeting was a violation of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The political firestorm began after Banerjee briefly met Modi and told reporters that she took the PM’s permission before leaving the venue -- a fact later disputed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. She also indicated her objection to the presence of her protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari.