Will touch PM Modi's feet for Bengal's sake but can't bear humiliation: Mamata amid Centre-State row over Yaas meeting skip

"If (the) Prime Minister tells me ‘you touch my feet, I will help Bengal’, that also I am ready to do but please don’t humiliate me like this," Banerjee said at a press conference at her office Nabanna.

"I asked the Prime Minister thrice, 'with your kind permission may we leave'? He agreed. I gave him the cyclone report too, then they clicked photos of empty seats," she added.

Banerjee, who heads the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), has accused Modi of being unable to digest the defeat in the recently concluded assembly polls, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could win only 77 of 294 seats (two seats are due to be polled).

"We have got a landslide victory that's why you are (are you) behaving like this? You tried everything and lost. Why are you quarreling with us everyday," the Chief Minister said.

"You cannot digest the defeat. That's why from day one, you started this type of action. Every time you are going for confrontation," she added.

Banerjee, who was touring various parts of the state to assess the impact of Yaas in her own capacity, was on Friday invited for a brief meeting with the Prime Minister between 2:15 pm and 2:30 pm, followed by a review meeting from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm at Kalaikunda airbase.

However, Banerjee's presence went doubtful on May 27 night after the state's opposition leader from the BJP, Suvendu Adhikari, who incidentally defeated the Chief Minister in the recently concluded assembly polls, was also invited to the meeting apart from central ministers as well as Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Banerjee, who waited for the Prime Minister for 20 mins, reportedly went into the review meeting room, briefed the Prime Minister about the impact of Yaas and left for her scheduled visits to the cyclone-affected zones.

Following the entire episode, the BJP leaders including top ministers of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre lashed out at the West Bengal Chief Minister.

The Centre-State conflict reached a new height after the union government asked West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, who is handling the COVID-19 pandemic situation as well as Yaas relief operation, to report to Delhi by 10 am on May 31.

According to the rules, the Mamata Banerjee government has to first relieve the Chief Secretary before he can join the Centre.

Bandyopadhyay, an IAS officer on whom the Chief Minister supposedly relies, was granted an extension for a period of three months, Banerjee said.

Banerjee had written to Modi on May 12, requesting Bandyopadhyay's extension for at least six months citing his experience of handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

On this, the Chief Minister lashed out at the central government for playing "vendetta politics" saying, "Have you (anyone) seen this type of incident in 74 years (since Independence)? You (the Prime Minister) are not only disturbing me but also my state secretariat, Chief Secretary."

Banerjee has appealed to the Prime Minister to withdraw the recall order and also hinted at a courtroom battle saying, "We are now only appealing. They have also filed a caveat in the court. We haven't gone to court first."

She has also accused Modi of recalling the Chief Secretary since he is a Bengali person.

"Why are you so angry with Bengal. My Chief Secretary is a Bengali. Earlier it was Rajiva Sinha. I am not doing Bengali-Non-Bengali but it is what it is," she thundered.

Banerjee, who has emerged as a popular anti-BJP face following her thumping win in the state polls this year, has garnered support from the Congress over the entire row.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, "Modi Govt’s Malicious Recall of Bengal Chief Secretary is death knell for Federalism. Union Govt’s Lethal Assault on Democracy will create Anarchy in the Country!!"

In the same tune, Congress senior leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, " Independent India hasn’t seen a PM and HM with bigger egos and smaller minds. This move in the middle of a pandemic and the aftermath of a devastating cyclone, shows how they are still licking their Bengal wounds post elections. Pathetic!"