West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the review meeting on the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas which she reportedly skipped. According to NDTV, Banerjee accused his office of spreading “fake, one-sided, partisan news”.
“Don’t insult me like this. We have got a landslide victory, is that why you are behaving like this? You tried everything and lost. Why are you quarrelling with us every day?” NDTV quoted Banerjee as saying at a news conference.
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Mamata said that she had to visit a coastal district and had sought PM Modi’s permission before leaving. Therefore, she had a quick 15-minute chat with Modi at the airbase where his flight landed and then proceeded to visit the cyclone-hit areas instead of attending the review meeting.
“I had made plans to visit cyclone-hit areas. I had to travel to Sagar and Digha to see the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas. All my plans were made and ready… then suddenly we get a call that Prime Minister wants to visit Bengal to assess the situation after the cyclone,” Mamata said.
She further alleged that the meeting was held by the Prime Minister to settle ‘political scores’ by inviting the Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
“It was supposed to be only a PM-CM meeting. So, we decided to submit our report to the PM, and then with the Prime Minister’s permission, we went to Digha. I sought the Prime Minister’s permission three times,” NDTV quoted Banerjee as saying.
She also refuted the claims put forth by the Central government that stated that the WB CM made the Prime Minister and the Governor wait for 30 minutes. In fact, she said it was the other way around, and she had to wait for PM Modi at the tarmac for 20 minutes.