Centre calls Mamata callous for keeping PM Modi wait, recalls Chief Sec to Delhi

New Delhi: The Centre called Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee' attitude 'callous', and 'arrogant' and accused of reeking petty politics for delaying a scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the impact of the cyclone Yaas, thus keeping PM wait for half an hour.

Today, the Centre issued an order recalling the state's Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay. He has been asked to report to the Department of Personnel and Training's office in Delhi by May 31 mornings.

The new development came after yesterday's incident, signalling the intensifying differences between the State government and the Central government.

Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar alleged she was boycotting her PM, said a report published in the NDTV.

Dhankhar tweeted a photo showing Modi at the head of a table with BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and other officials seated to his left and empty chairs to his right.

At Kaliakunda airbase, where the meeting was scheduled, Mamata reportedly interacted with PM for 15 minutes and left after handing over a report instead of attending the meeting. She allegedly said that she came to meet Modi to submit the report on cyclone impact and wants to leave for another meeting and asked Modi's permission before she left.

This was the first meeting in person between the duo after the rancorous WB elections and Mamata's third straight victory.

Central government sources alleged that when the PM arrived for the meet, no one from the WB government was at the airbase, and neither the CM nor the Chief Secretary who were present in the premises did not come to receive him. They added that never in the history of the Indian Republic has a CM behaved in such an ugly and disrespectable manner with his/her PM or Governor.

They said that Mamata was unmindful of the welfare of the people of her state and had dealt "an unprecedented blow to propriety and federalism" with irritable behaviour. She must be upset that her former aid Suvendu Adhikari, now the opposition leader, was attending the meeting, sources said.

They also claimed that Mamta did not allow officials to do a presentation before PM though it was loaded on the screen.

But in response, sources from Mamata's office said that ahead of the review meeting, they have confirmed the time with PM separately. They also had informed the prime minister's office that she had prior engagements, but ultimately, it was her who was made to wait.