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Mamata doesn’t mince words in key meet chaired by Amit Shah, holds one-on-one on sidelines

The Meeting between the Union home minister & Bengal CM comes at a time when TMC is facing heat from central agencies. Sources say at one point the exchange between the 2 got heated.

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Kolkata: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday chaired the key Eastern Zonal Council meet in Kolkata where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashvi Yadav and Odisha’s minister of state home Tusharkanti Behera represented their respective states.

Also present at the meeting were officials from the ministry of home affairs and the border security force.

The leaders came face-to-face at a time when Mamata and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) have been vociferously attacking Shah, alleging “misuse” of central agencies against the TMC. Mamata had even skipped the key security meet of state home ministers chaired by Shah in Surajkund in October stating prior commitments.

On Saturday at 11 am the meeting began in the state secretariat, with all state representatives present putting a host of issues before the home minister.

Sources told ThePrint that the West Bengal CM was vocal about the pending ‘100 days of guaranteed wage employment’ funds. To this, Shah responded that due to certain irregularities, the funds had been blocked. Senior West Bengal administrative officers highlighted the letters written to the central government regarding the funds for the 100 days guaranteed wage scheme and the details of the irregularities.

Speaking to ThePrint, an official from Bihar who was present at the meeting said that Mamata had “heated” words with Shah. “At one point, the West Bengal CM lost her cool and the exchange with the home minister was heated,” the official said.

Mamata also expressed her displeasure regarding the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) releasing water without informing the state. The DVC officials denied the claim, leading to a heated exchange. The home minister has ordered a three-member committee — comprised of representatives from the central government, state and the DVC — to look into and resolve the issue.

She also highlighted the rise in cattle smuggling across the international borders under the jurisdiction of the BSF. This comes at a time when TMC leaders are under the scanner in an alleged cattle smuggling probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in West Bengal, which led to the arrest of TMC strongman Anubrata Mondal.

In a first, Mamata and Shah had a closed-door meeting in Nabanna, the state secretariat, at a time when the TMC is facing heat from the central agencies — both CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) — which are probing high profile cases against the party, including in alleged cattle smuggling probe, coal smuggling probe and school service recruitment irregularities.

However, officials claimed it was a courtesy meeting between the two leaders.


Also read: Mamata scores 92% — after brouhaha over ‘netas’ on Bengal teacher test rank list, board clarifies


Left wing extremism, narcotics

While the Eastern Zonal Council meet lasted two-and-a-half hours followed by lunch, Amit Shah’s one-on-one unscheduled meeting with Mamata lasted approximately 20 minutes.

The Union home minister, during the council meeting, also spoke about Left wing extremism (LWE) and said it has almost been eliminated from the eastern region of the country. He said efforts should be made to sustain this decisive dominance over LWE so that extremism does not re-emerge in LWE-free states, allowing them to develop at par with other parts of the country.

He urged the CM to ensure the creation of a district-level structure of the NCORD (National Narcotics Coordination Portal) mechanism and its regular meetings “for the prevention of narcotics”, said a PIB release. He said the fight against drugs in the country is now at a crucial stage and there is a need to accelerate the campaign against drugs with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

He also urged the CMs to showcase the cultural diversity and tourist spots of their respective states to the world during the various G20 related events which will be held across states over the next year.

While Amit Shah was chairing the meeting in Nabanna, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee Saturday took on the central government over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) while addressing a political rally in Nadia. “The Centre’s CAA is a tool to fool people. It has been three years since the Bill was passed but till date the rules haven’t been formed. It is a tool being used by the BJP to fool the people of our country,” he said.

CAA, a long-standing promise by the home minister, is yet to be implemented. Promised during the 2021 Bengal Assembly polls, the state BJP has been mounting pressure on the MHA to impose the law as promised to the Matua community by Shah himself during an election rally in Thakurnagar in West Bengal where the Matua headquarter is located.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also read: ‘Ram, Baam & Shyam’ — why Mamata’s going hammer and tongs at BJP-CPI(M)-Congress ‘alliance’


 

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