KOLKATA: The slugfest between the BJP-led Centre and West Bengal government intensified on Saturday as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) summoned three IPS officers to serve in the central deputation after the attack on BJP national president JP Nadda’s convoy two days ago.
The three officers -- Rajeev Mishra (IG, South Bengal), Praveen Tripathi (DIG, Presidency Range) and Bholanath Pandey (SP, Diamond Harbour) -- were responsible to oversee Nadda's security during his visit to Diamond Harbour, the Lok Sabha constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Acting on the report from the Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, the MHA on Friday had summoned chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and DGP Virendra to be present in a meeting on December 14 over the issue of alleged grim law and order situation in Bengal and attack on Nadda’s convoy. But the Bengal CM directed Bandopadhyay to ignore the summons.
Usually, the state government’s nod is taken before asking any IPS officer to serve in the central deputation. But sources in the state secretariat said the MHA has unilaterally taken the decision bypassing the West Bengal government. For joining central deputation services, IPS officers need to take clearance from the state government which they serve.
Castigating the MHA’s move, TMC MP and chief whip Kalyan Banerjee wrote a letter to Union Home secretary Ajay Bhalla saying the law and order issue is state’s subject and the Centre cannot summon the officers. "All three IPS officers were deployed near the place of the incident on December 10. Your motive is very clear that by taking them, you want to create pressure upon the said three police officers," Banerjee alleged.
Hitting out hard at the MHA, Banerjee alleged the Centre is indirectly trying to impose emergency in West Bengal. "You are terrorising all IAS and IPS officers of our state. Your every path suffers from mala fide exercise of power. No one is above the rule of law. Neither the Home minister Amit Shah nor you are above law," he wrote in the letter.
Meanwhile, BJP’s West Bengal vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar questioned Kalyan Banerjee's authority. "He is no one in the state government. He is only a member of Parliament. He has no authority to step in the issue and send the letter to the MHA," he said.