KOLKATA: The Prime Minister should not play a 'dirty game' and instead withdraw the letter directing to Bengal’s top bureaucrat to report to Delhi, West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee asserted on Saturday.
Not one to cower under attack, the CM added that the BJP failed to digest its defeat in the recent elections and the saffron camp is now pursuing 'vendetta politics'. Mamata claimed that PM Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah were trying to create problems for her government at every step ever since her party came to power for the straight third term.
Chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay was served the transfer notice after Mamata, whom he had accompanied, skipped a review meeting with the PM to assess Cyclone Yaas’ damages.
"You (Modi and Shah) are not only disturbing me, but also my secretariat. You issued the letter without consulting the state government. Earlier, I wrote seeking Bandopadhyay's three-month extension as he is assigned to oversee the fight against COVID and the government's relief operation for cyclone victims. He was scheduled to retire on May 31 and the request was approved. Now you are asking him to report to the DoPT on the same day. Why? Is it because he is a Bengali bureaucrat?" asked Mamata.
Many saw her statement as an extension of her poll ploy of appealing to the Bengali sentiment of the masses. Continuing the same narrative, Mamata said she was ready touch Modi’s feet if told to do for the sake of Bengal’s growth and development.
"You are doing all these because you cannot digest BJP’s defeat in Bengal. What is the fault of the chief secretary?...Recalling him reflects how the Centre is indulging in political vendetta," she added.
Responding to the BJP’s attack for not attending the review meeting, Mamata said, "I decided to attend the meet as I thought it would be between us. But later, I got to know about the revised event in which BJP leaders was invited. Then I decided to skip it."