On Friday, West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay was summoned to Delhi at 10 am on Monday. In the North Block, he is supposed to join the Central government’s personnel department. Will he arrive on Monday as instructed by the Centre? Or, is there a new turn waiting in this controversial episode? The situation is not yet clear. Alapan was present in his Kolkata office on Sunday.
According to sources, the state government has not given the necessary clearance to Alapan to go to Delhi till now. Even the Central government did not withdraw its directive at the request of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. What’s next? What action will the Centre take if he does not turn up?
If Trinamool Congress (TMC) sources are to be believed, Alapan may take a political plunge. “Alapan may resign on Monday and join politics. This possibility is very much there,” said a party functionary, refusing to be quoted. According to TMC sources, the state government is pondering over many options, with him joining politics being very strong. “If Alapan joins politics, it will be a strong reply. Since he is very close to the Chief Minister, he will get a good position in the party and even in the government,” said another source.
There is also a buzz that he may contest the election from Shantipur, left vacant after BJP candidate Jagannath Sarkar decided to quit the Assembly and retain his Lok Sabha membership. Alapan will have a precedent. Earlier, Humayun Kabir, who was a Chandannagar Police Commissioner, too had joined TMC and is a minister now.
Following the transfer order on Friday evening, the Chief Minister held a press conference in Nabanna on Saturday and appealed to the Centre to withdraw the order. But just as there was no news of the withdrawal of the Central directive on Sunday, the state government did not give the Chief Secretary permission to work in Delhi. On behalf of the Central government, besides instructing Alapan to join the work in Delhi, a letter was also sent to Nabanna, which houses the temporary State Secretariat of West Bengal. But so far no release order has been issued to the Chief Secretary from Nabanna and no reply has been given to the Central government’s letter.
On Monday, Mamata Banerjee will hold a meeting in Nabanna to discuss the situation after the cyclone. The Chief Secretary may also be present at the meeting. 31 May was supposedly the last day for Alapan as the Chief Secretary. But when the state government appealed to the Centre for an extension of his term, the Modi government agreed and he got a three-month extension.
Mamata Banerjee and Alapan were scheduled to attend a meeting with PM Modi to review the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas on Friday but neither of them attended it. Before the meeting, the Chief Minister met the Prime Minister and presented the account of the damage caused by the disaster. Within a few hours, the Centre summoned Alapan to Delhi.
The state government is seeking legal advice. The Centre has kept the caveat file in the court and Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), the Chief Minister said on Saturday. A discussion is going on how to give a suitable reply to the Prime Minister. His three-month term as Chief Secretary was extended and the term can be extended for a maximum of six months. But if he goes to Delhi on 31 May, he will have to resign from his current post.