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A day before Amit Shah’s tour, Centre versus West Bengal intensifies | 10 points
This tug-of-war between Centre and West Bengal is running parallel to the tussle between BJP and the Trinamool Congress as the latter is experiencing back-to-back exits.
Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to reach Kolkata late on Friday night and, for the next two days, the BJP leader will visit Paschim Medinipur and Birbhum. The Centre versus West Bengal tussle has, meanwhile, intensified, running parallel to several exits from the Trinamool — ahead of the assembly election in 2021.
Here are the latest updates:
> The tussle between the Centre and the state revolves around the law and order situation of the state, which has come to the fore after BJP chief JP Nadda’s convoy was attacked in Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the attack was staged as BJP leaders always come with their own security.
> The Centre sought a report from West Bengal Governor who in his report criticised the Mamata government for the deterioration of the situation.
> The Centre also summoned the chief secretary and director-general of police of West Bengal regarding the law and order situation. The state government decided to ignore the order.
> Chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay wrote to the Centre that the state government was already addressing the issue with utmost seriousness.
> The Centre on Friday has again summoned the officials who might present themselves via video-conference.
> This tug-of-war between Centre and West Bengal is running parallel to the tussle between BJP and the Trinamool Congress as the latter is experiencing back-to-back exits.
> After the exit of former minister Suvendu Adhikri who represents Nandigram that was a major linchpin behind Mamata Banerjee’s coming to power in 2011, Jitendra Tiwari and Silbhadra Datta resigned from the party in the last 24 hours.
> The Union home ministry has announced Z category security to Suvendu Adhikari in West Bengal and Y+ in other states.
> West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said he has not accepted Suvendu Adhikari’s resignation as it was not clear whether the “resignation” was voluntary. The letter was not personally handed to the Speaker.
> The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim protection to five BJP leaders, including Mukul Roy and MPs Kailash Vijayvargiya and Arjun Singh, in criminal cases lodged against them in West Bengal and directed the state police not to take any coercive action.
