BJP-led govt pursuing vendetta politics: Mamata on row over meeting with PM

'If Prime Minister asks me to touch his feet for welfare of Bengal people, I am ready to do that; but I should not be insulted,' says West Bengal CM

Alleging that the BJP-led Centre was pursuing "vendetta politics", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday appealed to the Union government to withdraw its order recalling Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and allow the senior bureaucrat to work for people amid the COVID-19 crisis.

She also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were trying to create problems for her government at every step as they were yet to come to terms with BJP's defeat in the assembly elections.

"I felt bad. They humiliated me by running the one-sided information circulated by the PMO. When I was working, they were doing this. For the sake of people, I am ready to touch your feet. Stop this political vendetta. I request Prime Minister to withdraw this order of Chief Secretary (being attached to DoPT) and let us work," Banerjee told reporters here.

"There should be some courtesy. The Centre is not letting the State work. Do not insult me like this, do not defame Bengal. Bengal is my priority and I will never put it in danger. I will remain a security guard for the people here. My Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and Finance Secretary have been attending meetings all the time. They are working for the Centre, when will they do the state job," she said.

"Because you (Modi and Shah) cannot digest BJP's defeat in (Bengal), you have started creating problems for us from Day one. What is the fault of the chief secretary?

"Recalling the chief secretary amid the COVID crisis goes on to show that the Centre was indulging in political vendetta," she asserted.

Talking about the criticism she faced for skipping the review meeting with Modi on cyclone devastation, Banerjee said, "It was supposed to be held between the PM and the CM. Why were BJP leaders called to the session?"

She also claimed that opposition leaders were not invited to similar review meetings held in Gujarat and Odisha, the two states that also faced cyclone fury over the past few days.