On Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stoked a massive political controversy by disrespecting the office of the Prime Minister and the Governor of West Bengal by deliberately making them wait for 30 minutes at the Kalaikunda airport.
According to the reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday visited Odisha and West Bengal to review the impact of Cyclone Yaas. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, along with Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, also conducted an aerial survey of cyclone-hit areas in the North 24 Parganas district.
CM Mamata Banerjee skips cyclone Yaas review meeting with PM Modi: Sources@AmanKayamHai_ shares more details with @SiddiquiMaha pic.twitter.com/kkzuM5lNH9
— News18 (@CNNnews18) May 28, 2021
Prime Minister Modi landed at the Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal after his aerial survey, where a review meeting was scheduled between 2:30 pm and 3:30 pm today. The Chief Minister of West Bengal was expected to join the meeting with Prime Minister Modi to take stock of the cyclone situation in West Bengal.
However, Mamata Banerjee, in the act of violating the principles of federalism of breach of propriety, arrived 30 minutes late to the review meeting despite being at the same premises. Reportedly, Mamata Banerjee did not even bother to receive both the Prime Minister and the Governor of West Bengal.
Mamata did not attend review meeting
Upon entering the review meeting, Mamata Banerjee handed over papers related to the cyclone impact and left the premises claiming she had other engagements.
According to Times Now journalist Megha Prasad, the breach of protocol by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is the first such incident in recent history.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi also held a review meeting with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar to discuss the impact of the cyclone. He undertook an aerial survey of the parts of Odisha that have been impacted by Cyclone Yaas. During the meeting, the Odisha government demanded long term solutions to mitigate problems caused by the repeated cyclones and provision of disaster-resilient power systems.