By PTI
NEW DELHI: The BJP hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, alleging that she tried to derail Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with district magistrates (DMs).
Accusing Banerjee of not allowing the DM of North 24 Parganas to participate in the meeting of district officials with the prime minister, the BJP said her behaviour is highly condemnable.
Modi held a second round of interaction with DMs and field officials on the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday.
“She (Banerjee) rarely attends the meetings called by the prime minister and today, she tried to derail the meeting between the prime minister and the district magistrates,” Union minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
“If the prime minister is talking to the district magistrates on the good work done by them in their districts and sharing their good practices with others, what is wrong with that?” he asked.
Prasad said Banerjee’s behaviour is “shameful” and “least expected” from a chief minister of a state.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo should rise above politics and work for the welfare of people as the country needs to speak in unison, he said.
Underlining that Modi has repeatedly been engaging himself with the stakeholders in handling the pandemic situation, Prasad said the prime minister has also spoken with the DMs of opposition-ruled states such as Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Modi asked the officials on Thursday to record the spread of the coronavirus infection and its seriousness among youngsters and children, and cautioned them saying the challenge posed by COVID-19 will remain as long it is present in the country even on a “minor scale”.
Meanwhile, Banerjee alleged that Modi’s meeting with the chief ministers on the COVID situation was “super flop”, as she and many of her counterparts from other states were not allowed to speak, which was akin to insulting them.
