News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Buzz grows on BJP vice-president Mukul Roy’s return to TMC after Abhishek Banerjee’s hospital visit

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The buzz that BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy may return to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has grown louder since Wednesday’s visit by TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee to the hospital where Mukul’s wife is undergoing COVID treatment.

    According to sources, Abhishek enquired about her health and wished her a speedy recovery. Though Mukul’s wife, Krishna, was admitted to the hospital on May 14, no BJP leader had bothered to pay her a visit. Abhishek’s visit, understandably, has set the alarm bells ringing in the saffron camp.

    Within two hours of his visit, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh changed his schedule and rushed to the hospital. The following day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself dialed Mukul and enquired about his wife’s health. 

    Amid all this, some political observers in the state have linked Abhishek’s visit with one of the statements Mamata made while campaigning for the election, in which she compared Mukul and Suvendhu Adhikari.  “Mukul is facing injustice by them (BJP). He has been fielded in the constituency which is far away from his hometown. What I can say he (Mukul) is much better than him (Suvendu),” she had said. 

    If one reads that statement and Abhishek’s hospital visit together, the panic in the BJP is understandable. “Abhishek’s visit to the hospital was enough to scare the BJP leaders about a possible re-run of the defection episode. And this time, the exodus would be from the saffron camp. If a national vice-president of BJP changes his political allegiance, it will definitely send a wrong message to the electorate and will damage the party’s image nationally,” said Bishnupriya Dutta Gupta, a political science professor.

    “Though we have differences, his (Abhishek’s) courtesy is exemplary,” said Subhrangshu, Mukul’s son, who joined the BJP last year.

  • Centre’s claim of vaccinating India’s adult population by 2021-end a hoax: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday dubbed as “hoax” the Centre’s claim of vaccinating the entire population above the age of 18 years by 2021, and asserted that the union government must provide jabs free of cost to states.

    “That claim is just a hoax. The Centre says things like these. Before the Bihar elections, they had promised to inoculate its population after the elections, but nothing happened,” she told reporters at the state secretariat.

    Banerjee said considering the gap between doses, the process to vaccinate the entire eligible age group should take six months to a year to complete.

    ALSO READ | Alapan Bandyopadhyay chapter is over, Bengal govt will provide him full support: CM Mamata Banerjee

    She said her government has spent Rs 150 crore to procure vaccines, but only 1.4 crore of the state’s over 10- crore population could be inoculated so far.

    “The Centre is not sending vaccines to states. Whatever little stock that is supplied, gets depleted within days. It must give free vaccines to state governments,” she said.

    The central government had on Monday said it expects to inoculate the country’s adult population by the end of the year.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • Home Ministry notice to Alapan Bandyopadhyay under Disaster Management Act

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The row between the Centre and the West Bengal government intensified after the Union Home Ministry served a show-cause notice to the state’s former chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay under a stringent provision of the Disaster Management Act that entails imprisonment up to two years.

    A home ministry official said that hours before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced his retirement on Monday, Bandyopadhyay was served the notice for refusing to comply with lawful direction of the central government in violation of Section 51-B of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

    The officer has been asked to reply within three days to the notice, the official said.

    It was stated in the notice that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entourage after reaching the Kalaikunda air force station waited for 15 minutes for the officers of the state government to arrive.

    In view of the absence, the chief secretary was called by an official as to whether they wanted to participate in the review meeting or not.

    Thereafter the chief secretary arrived along with the chief minister inside the room and left immediately.

    “In view of this act of abstaining himself from the review meeting taken by the Prime Minister, who is also the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, the chief secretary has acted in a manner tantamount to refusing to comply with lawful direction of the central government and thus violative of Section 51(b) of the Disaster Management Act 2005,” it said.

    Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer who was due to retire on May 31, was given an extension of three months and days later asked to report at the Centre.

    However, Banerjee announced his retirement on Monday and appointed him as the chief advisor to the state government.

    According to Section 51 (b), whosoever refuses to comply with any direction given by or on behalf of the central government or the state government or the National Executive Committee or the State Executive Committee or the District Authority under this Act, shall on conviction be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both.

    “And if such obstruction or refusal to comply with directions results in loss of lives or imminent danger thereof, shall on conviction be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years…,” the Act says.

    The Union Home Secretary is the chairman of the national executive committee under the DM Act which is currently in force due to the COVID pandemic.

    The COVID-19 lockdown measures have been implemented under the Disaster Management Act.

    The retired IAS officer has been asked to explain in writing to the home ministry within three days why action should be taken against him under the provisions of the Act.

    Bandyopadhyay is also facing heat from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), cadre controlling ministry for IAS officers, which had asked him twice to appear for his further duty to the central government in Delhi by Monday and again on Tuesday.

    However, he did not come to the capital and chose to retire, instead of accepting a three-month extension sanctioned to him by the state and central government.

    Chief Minister Banerjee had alleged that the officer was targeted by the central government due to a “political vendetta”.

    Reacting sharply to the notice, the ruling Trinamool Congress claimed that the Centre was wreaking vengeance on the West Bengal government and said the notice sent to Bandyopadhyay was an “illegal” move.

    TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy contended that the notice, invoking section 51 (b) of the Disaster Management Act, was “void”, and said that the question of violation of any provision does not arise.

    “Show Cause Notice served upon former Chief Secretary of Bengal is void ab initio in as much as no direction was issued to him under Sec 51(a) or(b) of the Disaster Management Act.

    As such the question of violation thereof does not arise. Stop such blatant acts of vengeance,” he tweeted.

    Opposition leader in the West Bengal assembly, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, however, sought the strictest action against Bandopadhyay for “indiscipline and violation of rules”.

    “I demand the strictest action be taken against the outgoing CS for indiscipline, violating service rules at a time of a natural disaster and a global pandemic, irregularities, and not helping others just because of sinister political games.

    TMC has failed the people of West Bengal,” the BJP leader tweeted.

    Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya, on his part, said the chief secretary is a victim of circumstances in the midst of the tussle between the Centre and the state government.

    Different interpretations can be made out of the episode that preceded Bandopadhyay’s recall order, his subsequent retirement, and everything that followed, he said.

    “Alapan Bandopadhyay is a victim of circumstances, this is not desirable.

    It may apparently seem that more importance should be given to the prime minister than the chief minister, but since the chief secretary is responsible for the affairs of the state, it does not seem that he has done anything wrong by toeing the chief minister’s line,” Bhattacharya said.

  • ‘Ego prevailed over public service’: Dhankhar on Mamata skipping PM meet

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday stirred fresh controversy by saying “ego prevailed over public service” on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee skipping Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting to review post-cyclone damages on May 28.

    Terming the governor’s comment “unfortunate”, the ruling party in the state asserted that the chief minister is involved in public service 24/7 and all her actions are prompted by her concern for the interests of the state.

    Dhankhar said the chief minister had called him up before the meeting at Kalaikunda in Paschim Medinipur district and indicated that she won’t attend it if Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is present in it.

    “Constrained by false narrative to put record straight: On May 27 at 2316 hrs CM @MamataOfficial messaged ‘may I talk? urgent’,” Dhankhar tweeted.

    “Thereafter on phone indicated boycott by her & officials of PM Review Meet #CycloneYaas if LOP @SuvenduWB attends it. Ego prevailed over Public service,” he said in another Twitter post.

    Besides Adhikary, Dhankhar and BJP MP Debasree Chaudhuri were present in the meeting.

    The chief minister said she had skipped the meeting because “a BJP MLA has no locus to be present in a PM-CM meeting”.

    Adhikari has defeated Banerjee in Nandigram seat in the recent assembly elections.

    In a letter to the prime minister on Monday, Banerjee had written, “I wanted to have a quiet word with you, a meeting between the PM and the CM as usual. You, however, revised the structure of the meeting to include a local MLA from your party and I am of the view that he had no locus to be present in a PM-CM meeting.”

    Banerjee had also mentioned in the letter that she had no objection to the presence of the governor and other Union ministers in the meeting.

    Reacting to Dhankhar’s tweet, senior TMC leader and Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy said, “The governor has no right to say such things. The CM is working round the clock for the interest of the state. She knows what to do.”

    Senior TMC leader and state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya had on Monday claimed that the chief minister had to wait for 30 minutes to meet the prime minister on May 28.

    “After she met him, Banerjee submitted details about the damages caused by cyclone Yaas and then sought his permission to leave for a pre-scheduled programme in Purba Medinipur district,” Bhattacharya had said.

    However, after the Kalaikunda episode, a fresh Centre-state tussle was witnessed over the services of the then Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, who had accompanied the chief minister to the meeting.

    Later on May 28, the Union government sent a letter to Bandopadhyay recalling him for central deputation.

    Banerjee strongly protested, saying it contradicts the Centre’s approval for extension of Bandopadhyay’s services as the CS by three months due to the cyclone and COVID situation in the state.

    Banerjee sent a letter to the prime minister over the issue on Monday and appointed Bandopadhyay as her chief adviser for three years, after allowing him to retire.

  • ‘Ego prevailed over public service’: Guv Dhankhar on Mamata Banerjee skipping PM Modi meet

    By PTI
    KOLKATA:West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday stirred fresh controversy by saying “ego prevailed over public service” on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee skipping Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting to review post-cyclone damages on May 28.

    Dhankhar said the chief minister had called him before the meeting at Kalaikunda in Paschim Medinipur district and indicated that she won’t attend it if Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is present in it.

    “Constrained by false narrative to put record straight: On May 27 at 2316 hrs CM @MamataOfficial messaged ‘may I talk? urgent’,” Dhankhar tweeted.

    “Thereafter on phone indicated boycott by her & officials of PM Review Meet #CycloneYaas if LOP @SuvenduWB attends it. Ego prevailed over Public service,” he said in another Twitter post.

    ALSO READ | Sheer misuse of power by Centre, say former civil servants on Bengal chief secretary transfer

    Besides Adhikary, Dhankhar and BJP MP Debosree Chaudhuri were present at the meeting.

    The chief minister said she skipped the meeting because “a BJP MLA has no locus to be present in a PM-CM meeting”.

    Adhikari has defeated Banerjee in Nandigram seat in the recent assembly elections.

    In a letter to the prime minister on Monday, Banerjee had written, “I wanted to have a quiet word with you, a meeting between the PM and the CM as usual. You, however, revised the structure of the meeting to include a local MLA from your party and I am of the view that he had no locus to be present in a PM-CM meeting.” 

    Banerjee had also mentioned in the letter that she had no objection to the presence of the governor and other Union ministers in the meeting.

  • With Covid situation improving in West Bengal, Mamata relaxes certain restrictions

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that as the number of active Covid-19 cases has come down in the state, her government relaxed a few restrictions allowing opening of retail shops including bookstalls from noon to 3 pm and construction activities after vaccinating workers.

    Banerjee said that operations in the Information Technology and ITES sector shall also be allowed with 10 per cent of total strength to enable backend and maintenance works between noon and 3 pm.

    “Construction activities and operations in industries and manufacturing units will be allowed with onsite staff after workers are vaccinated for Covid-19.

    Employers shall give a prior intimation to the district magistrates concerned regarding the compliance on vaccination status of the staff and workers,” she said reading out an order.

    The state government has imposed various restrictions for 15 days from May 16 and then extended it till June 15 to combat a surge in Covid-19 cases.

    “The active Covid-19 cases have come down to 1,09,806. The daily positivity rate has also come down to 18-19 per cent from 33 per cent,” she said adding that during the first wave it was 117.45 per cent.

    The discharge rate has also improved to 91 per cent, she said.

    The chief minister said that at least 1.41 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been given and 40 lakh people got both doses.

    She said that the state government has started procurement of vaccines on its own and has already spent Rs 114 crore for it.

    “We have also started purchasing vaccines on our own. In the month of May, we have procured 18 lakh vaccines and in June we will be purchasing another 22 lakh,” she said.

    Meanwhile, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild welcomed the decision of the state government to allow book shops to open shutters from noon to 3 pm.

    “We had urged the chief minister to allow book shops to open in the interest of readers, writers, publishers and book sellers.

    We are happy she responded to our plea,” Guild President Tridib Chatterjee said.

    Real estate sector body CREDAI said also welcomed the decision to allow construction activities saying that realty farms will vaccinate workers.

  • Bengal chief secretary retires, Mamata appoints him chief advisor amid Centre-state row

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Amid the ongoing tussle between the Centre and Bengal government over the chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay’s transfer to Delhi, the top bureaucrat on Monday retired and was appointed the chief advisor to CM Mamata Banerjee.

    Bandopandhyay will take on the new role from June 1 for a period of three years. 

    State Home Secretary HK Dwivedi has been appointed as the new chief secretary and additional chief secretary BP Gopalika has taken over as the new home secretary.

    “State chief secretary Alapan Banerjee has retired as his service ended today. He didn’t ask for his extension. But the state government has decided to use his vast experience in bureaucracy for the betterment of the state. He has now been appointed as chief minister’s chief advisor so that the government can get his service in handling Covid-19 pandemic and post cyclone Yaas relief operations,” said CM Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat.

    ALSO READ | ‘Won’t release chief secretary’: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee requests PM Modi to rescind order

    Mamata on Monday wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi describing the Centre’s decision to transfer Bandopadhyay to Delhi was unilateral, unprecedented and unconstitutional. Alapan was asked to report to the Department of Personnel and Training on May 31, the day of his superannuation

    “The government of Bengal cannot release, and it is not releasing, its Chief Secretary at this critical hour, on the basis of our understanding that the earlier order of extension, issued after lawful consultation in accordance with applicable laws, remains operational and valid,” Mamata wrote in the letter hours before announcing Bandopadhyay’s new role.

    Earlier, the state government had sought a nod from the Centre for Bandopadhyay’s three-month extension which was approved.

    Sources in the state secretariat said though the state government sought the bureaucrat’s extension as the chief secretary and the Centre gave a nod, Bengal government decided to scrap the idea after the central government’s letter asking Bandopadhyay to report to Delhi.

    “The CM decided to allow the chief secretary to retire and appoint him as her chief advisor,” an official said.

    The Bengal CM came down heavily on PM Modi and said Bandopadhyay’s transfer order reflected BJP’s political vendetta. “The Centre wrote directly wrote to the chief secretary bypassing the state government. This is unlawful. If the Centre wants a bureaucrat’s service in central government, the state government, under which he or she is working, has to be consulted. Instead of giving importance to Centre-State federalism structure, you added injury to it. I never saw such a ruthless Prime Minister,’’ Mamata lashed out.

  • ‘Won’t release chief secretary’: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee requests PM Modi to rescind order

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to withdraw the Centre’s order recalling Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, and said her government “is not releasing” the top bureaucrat.

    In a five-page letter, Banerjee urged the prime minister to reconsider the Centre’s decision to recall the chief secretary after giving him a three-month extension. Banerjee said she was shocked by the Centre’s decision and termed the order as “unilateral”, which was issued “without any prior consultation” with the state government.

    ALSO READ| Shouldn’t fight state governments now: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Bengal chief secretary transfer

    “This so-called unilateral order is an unreasoned volte face and by your own admission, against the interests of the state and its people. “I humbly request you to withdraw, recall, reconsider your decision and rescind the latest so-called order in larger public interest. I appeal to your conscience and good sense, on the behalf of the people of West Bengal,” Banerjee said in her letter to PM Modi.

    She also said, “The West Bengal government cannot release, and is not releasing its chief secretary at this critical hour, on the basis of our understanding that the earlier order of extension, issued after lawful consultation in accordance with applicable laws, remains operational and valid.”

    The Centre, in a surprise move, had on May 28 night sought Bandyopadhyay’s services and asked the state government to immediately release the top bureaucrat.

    ALSO READ| Rescind order to recall Bengal chief secretary immediately

    Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, was scheduled to retire on Monday after completion of 60 years of age. However, he was granted a three-month extension following a nod from the Centre to work on COVID management.

    In a communique to the state government, the Personnel Ministry on May 28 said the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the placement of the services of Bandyopadhyay with Government of India as per provisions of the Indian Administrative Service (cadre) Rules, 1954, “with immediate effect”.

    It also directed Bandyopadhyay to report to the Department of Personnel and Training, North Block, New Delhi by 10 am on Monday.

  • Shouldn’t fight state governments now: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Bengal chief secretary transfer

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday that this was not the time to fight with state governments, but to confront the coronavirus pandemic together. Kejriwal was reacting to reports of the sudden transfer of West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay by the Centre that snowballed into a major controversy.

    “This is not the time to fight with the state governments, but to fight the coronavirus together with everyone,” Kejriwal tweeted, tagging a news report that Bandyopadhyay might likely to continue as chief secretary amid the relief relief for cyclone and COVID.

    ये समय राज्य सरकारों से लड़ने का नहीं है, सबके साथ मिलकर करोना से लड़ने का है। ये समय राज्य सरकारों की मदद करने का है, उन्हें वैक्सीन उपलब्ध करवाने का है, सभी राज्य सरकारों को साथ लेकर एक होकर टीम इंडिया बनकर काम करने का है। लड़ाई झगड़े और राजनीति करने को पूरी ज़िंदगी पड़ी है pic.twitter.com/qwUVjcLA3i
    — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 31, 2021

    “This is the time to help the state governments, to provide them with vaccines, to work with all the state governments as team India.The whole life is left for politics,” Kejriwal tweeted. The Centre had in a surprise move on Friday night sought Bandyopadhyay’s services and asked the state government to immediately release the top bureaucrat.

    Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, was scheduled to retire on May 31 after completion of 60 years of age. However, he was granted a three-month extension following a nod from the Centre to work on COVID management.

  • Mamata indulging in politics amid crisis caused by cyclone, COVID-19: Dilip Ghosh

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Alleging that Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “has no respect for the prime minister’s chair”, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh on Sunday claimed that she skipped a review meeting on cyclone devastation for “political reasons”, notwithstanding the fact that people are reeling under crisis.

    Ghosh, while talking to reporters in Kharagpur, said that the CM has violated constitutional norms, and “everyone, by now, is aware of the kind of language and words she uses for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah”.

    “She is indulging in politics even as the people of state are reeling under crisis caused by the cyclone and the COVID-19 pandemic.

    We know how she entered the meeting room, where the PM was present, how she talked, and then left with the chief secretary,” the BJP leader stated.

    Reacting to Ghosh’s comments, senior TMC MLA Tapas Roy said, “There is little point in trying to counter the charges made by Ghosh, who now has little importance in his party.

    “However, since he has made certain observations, let me say that it is the BJP that is politicising the cyclone devastation and COVID situation,” he said.

    Echoing him, TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh said the BJP, after its drubbing in assembly elections, is looking for ways to discredit the Mamata Banerjee government.

    Asserting that the BJP-led Centre was pursuing “vendetta politics”, the CM on Saturday said Modi and 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 polls.

    She also sought to know why opposition BJP leaders were invited to her review meeting with the PM on cyclone devastation, further stating that she felt insulted at the gesture.