“Government Of Bengal Will Not Release Chief Secretary”: Mamata Banerjee Writes To PM Modi

“The government of Bengal cannot release, and is not releasing, its Chief Secretary at this critical hour,” Ms Banerjee wrote.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after a row over her meeting with PM Modi followed by an order from the centre to release the state’s chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, today wrote to Prime Minister stressing that she was “shocked and stunned” by the “unilateral order” .

“The government of Bengal cannot release, and is not releasing, its Chief Secretary at this critical hour, on the basis of our understanding that the earlier order of extension, issued after lawful consultation in accordance with applicable laws, remains operational and valid,” Ms Banerjee, who won a resounding victory in recently held assembly elections, wrote in her long letter.

“I am sure you will not inflict further suffering on the people of this state by taking away the services of an experienced officer, suddenly without any consultation and with no prior notice, whose continued presence in my state in these difficult times was accepted to be vital and necessary by your government four days back.”

The Chief Secretary, as per the centre’s order, was to report to Delhi at 10 am but the Chief Minister made it clear in the letter that he will stay and continue to manage her state’s Covid crisis.

After a row over Mamata Banerjee not attending a meeting with PM Modi on Friday, the Chief Secretary was ordered to move to the Centre.

The developments come shortly after Mamata Banerjee skipped a Cyclone Yaas review meeting with PM Modi, and instead met him briefly at the Kalaikunda air base in Bengal after his helicopter landed before leaving for another meeting. This led to many union ministers attacking the West Bengal CM for “insulting” the Prime Minister.

Ms Banerjee, citing a recent central order that had extended Mr Bandyopadhya’s term in Bengal by three months on account of the Covid surge in the state, said the Centre’s order is “legally untenable, historically unprecedented and wholly unconstitutional”.

“Does it have anything to do with our meeting at Kalaikunda,” the West Bengal Chief Minister asked directly, adding that she “sincerely hoped” that was not the case as it would be “sad, unfortunate and would amount to sacrificing public interest at the altar of misplaced priorities.”

While she went on to detail what went wrong that day after she “rescheduled everything to rush to Kalaikunda” to meet with the PM, she also emphasized that the presence of her former aide-turned-BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari at the meeting was “unacceptable”.

Ms Banerjee said she had been “detained” at one point and flight permissions were delayed to make room for the Prime Minister’s movement, but she reached Kalaikunda before time for “a meaningful discussion” on cyclone damage and mitigation. She said “meanwhile” one of her ministers had received PM Modi, something that had irked many in the central government as they said it was a huge insult that the Chief Minister kept PM Modi waiting at the air base and did not receive him personally.

“I wanted to have a quiet word with you, a meeting between the Prime Minister and Chief Minister as usual,” she wrote.

“You however revised the structure of the meeting to include a local MLA from your party and I am on the view (based on my knowledge of the affairs of the state for about 40 years) that he had no locus to be present at a PM-CM meeting,” said the Chief Minister, also commenting that Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had no role in the meeting either.

The West Bengal CM said that the Chief Secretary had repeatedly sent messages to the central team but nothing was done on Suvendu Adhikari.

“Finally, keeping aside my legitimate reservations, I entered the meeting with the Chief Secretary of my state to hand over the report to you. You personally took the report from My hand, and then I specifically and expressly sought permission from you for us to leave for Digha, our next cyclone-ravaged destination, where a meeting was due and participants were waiting. You expressly permitted us to take our leave,” she wrote.

Ms Banerjee further added that then came the “bolt from the blue” in the form of the recall order that she said was a decision taken with “malafide intention and in hot haste”.

“I therefore humbly request you to withdraw, recall, reconsider your decision and rescind the latest so-called order in larger public interest,” her letter said.