Hummingbird News Desk
KOLKATA, 29 MAY: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the review meeting on the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas which she reportedly skipped and accused his office of spreading “fake, one-sided, partisan news”.
“I had made plans to visit cyclone-hit areas. I had to travel to Sagar and Digha to see the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas. All my plans were made and ready… then suddenly we get a call that Prime Minister wants to visit Bengal to assess the situation after the cyclone,” Miss Banerjee said.
She further alleged that the meeting was held by the Prime Minister to settle ‘political scores’ by inviting the Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
“It was supposed to be only a PM-CM meeting. So, we decided to submit our report to the PM, and then with the Prime Minister’s permission, we went to Digha. I sought the Prime Minister’s permission three times,” she claimed.
“Don’t insult me like this. We have got a landslide victory, is that why you are behaving like this? You tried everything and lost. Why are you quarrelling with us every day?” she said at a news conference.
She also said, “I took PM’s permission before leaving. PMO humiliated me, tweets were posted to tarnish my image. They humiliated me by running one-sided information circulated by PMO. Please don’t humiliate me.”
“Bengal is my priority and I will never put it in danger. I will remain a security guard for the people here. If the Prime Minister asks me to touch his feet for the welfare of Bengal people, I am ready to do that; but I should not be insulted,” she added.
She also refuted the claims put forth by the Central government that stated that the WB CM made the Prime Minister and the Governor wait for 30 minutes. In fact, she said it was the other way around, and she had to wait for PM Modi at the tarmac for 20 minutes.
“Under a plan, they were showing some vacant chairs. Why would I sit when I could see political party leaders who were not entitled to attend the meeting; I did meet the PM. When we reached, the meeting had started. They asked us to sit, I asked them to allow us a minute to submit the report. SPG told us that meeting will be after 1 hour. I saw empty chairs in the conference room; I was told that the meeting was between CM and PM but why were there other BJP leaders?” she said.
Accusing the BJP-led Centre of “bulldozing” West Bengal’s federal structure, Miss Banerjee appealed to PM Modi to end political vendetta and, withdraw the order recalling West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and allow him to work for COVID-infected.
The Centre on Friday night sought services of the Chief Secretary and asked the state government to relieve the officer immediately.
“You (PM) are pursuing vendetta politics as you are yet to come to terms with BJP’s poll defeat in Bengal,” the TMC supremo said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister’s move drew sharp criticism from BJP leaders, including several Union ministers, with BJP president JP Nadda accusing her of “murder of constitutional ethos and the culture of cooperative federalism.”
Tags: #AbsentCM #MamataBanerjee #NarendraModi #Didi #CycloneYaas #IndiaWantsMamataDi
