West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday skipped a review meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assess the impact of Cyclone Yaas, choosing instead a quick 15-minute interaction with him at the Kalaikunda airbase where his flight landed. She was supposed to attend a cyclone damage review with PM Modi but left after handing him a report seeking Rs 20,000 crore Central relief package for the state.
The alleged snub took place when the Prime Minister landed at the Kalaikunda airbase in Bengal after an aerial survey of cyclone damage in the state and in Odisha.
The Centre accused the Bengal CM of keeping PM Modi and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar waiting for half an hour. A photo tweeted by Dhankhar showed the Prime Minister at the head of a table with empty chairs of the Bengal CM and Chief Secretary. Interestingly, the Bengal Chief Secretary was transferred to the Centre hours after the row.
Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay’s tenure was extended for three months only four days ago. The Centre has asked the state to send Bandyopadhyay to the Department of Personnel and Training’s office in Delhi by 31 May morning.
Accusing the CM of taking a confrontational stand, Bengal Governor Dhankhar said in a tweet: “It would have served interests of the state and its people for CM and officials @MamataOfficial to attend Review Meet by PM. Confrontational stance ill serves interests of State or democracy. Non-participation by CM and officials not in sync with constitutionalism or rule of law.”
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari termed the event as a dark day in India’s long-standing ethos of cooperative federalism. “Today is a dark day in India’s long-standing ethos of cooperative federalism, a principle held sacred by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has shown once again that she is insensitive to the sufferings of the people of West Bengal,” tweeted Adhikari.
“The way Mamata Didi behaved with Prime Minister Narendra Modi reflects her dictatorial nature and lack of respect for constitutional values. Instead of working with the Prime Minister for the betterment of West Bengal, she is indulging in petty politics. Her skipping the meeting is disgusting,” the BJP leader said.
Mamata later clarified that she took PM Modi’s permission before leaving from the meeting. Briefing the mediapersons at Digha, the CM said, “Prime Minister had called for a meeting. We did not know I had a meeting in Digha. So we reached Kalaikunda to meet the Prime Minister and handed over a report of the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas. As far as our estimation, damage of Rs 20,000 crore was caused. So, we asked for a Rs 10,000 crore package each for the development of Digha and Sundarban.”
PM Modi announced financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for immediate relief activities. Of the total amount, Rs 500 crore would be immediately disbursed to Odisha. Another Rs 500 crore, announced for West Bengal and Jharkhand, will be released on the basis of the damage.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik did not seek any relief package from PM Modi at a review meeting over Cyclone Yaas in Bhubaneswar on Friday. At the same time, Mamata Banerjee claimed that the state suffered massive damage and asked for a Rs 20,000 crore relief package from the Centre.
Cyclone Yaas made its landfall in West Bengal on Wednesday. Several districts including Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, South 24 Pargana and Jhargram suffered the impact in the last two days. The coastal areas like Digha and Sundarban were the worst affected.
On Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced Rs 600 crore in financial assistance to Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to deal with the cyclone situation. He also said that a sum of Rs 400 crore has been allocated to West Bengal.