Govt slams ‘arrogant’ Didi for skipping PM meeting

Govt slams ‘arrogant’ Didi for skipping PM meeting

‘Justifies Adhikari’s Presence At Meeting As LoP’

Akhilesh.Singh@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 29.05.2021 

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to skip the Cyclone Yaas review meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appeared to have left the Centre ‘bewildered’ even as sources justified the presence of Suvendu Adhikari at the meeting in his capacity as leader of the opposition (LoP).

Sources in government said the CM’s conduct was “callous, arrogant and supremely unmindful” of the welfare of the people of the state.

“Today, PM landed at Kalaikunda airbase after conducting an aerial survey in Odisha and West Bengal. When the PM arrived to attend the review meeting, there was no one from the West Bengal government,” said a source, adding that usually the tensions of state poll campaign are left behind after government formation.

The source said the chief minister and chief secretary of West Bengal were present on the same premises and yet they did not come to receive the PM.

Modi, governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Union ministers waited for half-an-hour for West Bengal representatives to turn up. “Suddenly Mamata Banerjee stormed in and handed over a bunch of papers on the cyclone impact to the PM and said that she is leaving as she has other visits lined up,” a source said.

A government source said if this was not shocking enough, Banerjee even did not allow officers of the West Bengal government to make a presentation.

“The entire presentation was loaded on the screen. However, her pettiness prevented officers from presenting it to the PM,” the source said.

Referring to Banerjee’s objection to the presence of Adhikari in the review meeting, sources said since Cyclone Yaas is a natural calamity, it was imperative that the “collective energies of all the elected representatives of people are pooled together”.

“Accordingly LoP of both Odisha and West Bengal were invited in the respective meetings with PM. However, since LoP in Odisha is recovering from Covid-19, he was unable to attend the meeting,” a source said. “Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, was also contacted to be part of the meeting. He has thanked the PM for the invitation but since he is in Delhi, he was unable to attend,” the source said.

UNDER FIRE: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee addresses the media on Friday