Former Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay: Didn’t ‘abstain’ from PM’s meeting

KOLKATA: Former Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay wrote to the Union home ministry on Thursday, denying he had "abstained" from PM Narendra Modi’s May 28 cyclone review meeting in Kalaikunda. Bandyopadhyay, now CM Mamata Banerjee’s chief adviser, said he attended the meeting and then left on Mamata's instructions — to whom he used to "report" as the state chief secretary — to conduct and coordinate post-cyclone review meetings in East Midnapore.
New chief secretary H K Dwivedi wrote a separate letter to the central department of personnel and training, stating that Bandyopadhyay retired from service on Monday — before the central government's second letter instructing him to report to Delhi’s North Block arrived. He had chosen not to accept the three-month extension given to him on May 24 before getting the second letter, Dwivedi’s letter mentioned. "Both replies have been sent," a senior state government officer confirmed.

The Union home ministry had issued the notice to Bandyopadhyay on Monday, asking him to explain why action should not be taken against him under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, for not attending the PM’s review meeting on May 28. The state government has insisted that both the CM and the former state chief secretary had a brief interaction with the PM and left after seeking his permission, a point denied by the Centre.
Mamata, too, wrote a five-page letter to PM Modi on Monday, saying it would be unfortunate if the Centre’s "vindictive and illegal" moves against Bandyopadhyay were part of its "anti-Bengal political vendetta after being rejected by Bengal’s voters in the assembly polls". Banerjee iterated on Wednesday that Bandyopadhyay enjoyed the Bengal government’s "full support... on whatever was going on with him".
The Centre’s notice to Bandyopadhyay on Monday said the "PM and other members of his entourage" waited 15 minutes for state officers to arrive. The CM and her former chief secretary arrived when called and left "immediately". By abstaining from a meeting convened by the Modi, also the National Disaster Management Authority chairperson, Bandyopadhyay "refused to comply with the lawful direction of the central government" and violated sections of the law, the notice said.
Senior officers in Bengal, however, countered this, saying Yaas had not been declared a "disaster" at the time and — even according to the Centre’s notice — Bandyopadhyay did not skip the PM’s review meeting. Besides, several people who were not part of the NDMA were invited to the meeting, too, they argued.