Mamata govt defies MHA summons over Nadda attack

Kolkata, December 11

The West Bengal Government on Friday decided not to send the state’s Chief Secretary and police chief to New Delhi in compliance with Union Home Ministry’s summons in the wake of a mob attack on BJP chief JP Nadda’s convoy, the latest flashpoint between the state and Centre.

Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay wrote to Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, saying he has been directed to request to “dispense with the presence of the state officials” in the meeting convened on December 14, an obvious indication that he was just obeying the state government’s order.

The MHA had on Friday summoned Bandyopadhyay and DGP Virendra asking them to present themselves on December 14 for an explanation on the law and order situation in the state, following Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s report on the attack on Nadda’s convoy by alleged supporters of the ruling TMC.

The state’s top bureaucrat said as requested by the Union Home Secretary on December 10, the state government had indeed made elaborate arrangements for security coverage of the protectees on Thursday.

“The incidents regarding Z-category protectees are already being examined at our end. The West Bengal Police had provided a bulletproof car and a pilot to JP Nadda, which was in addition to the escort (vehicle by state, personnel by CRPF) and PSOs (CRPF) he is entitled as a Z-category protectee,” he wrote.

The DIG (Police) of the range was stationed in the area to supervise the arrangements. “While the central protectees had their own protection arrangements, these arrangements were made over and above the same from the end of the state,” Bandyopadhyay wrote. — PTI