West Bengal Chief Minister has secured yet another victory in her battle against the Central regime by managing to hold on to Alapan Bandyopadhyay. The Chief Secretary has now retired in accordance with his previously scheduled superannuation and Banerjee has appointed him her Chief Adviser for three years. This probably puts an end to high drama that has been ensuing over his forced transfer to Delhi.

On May 28, the Centre had passed and order asking Alapan Bandyopadhyay to report to Delhi on May 31 by 10 A.M. The timing of the order was interesting given how Bandyopadhyay was all set to retire on May 31, but was given a three-month extension by the Centre on May 24 at the request of the state government.

Banerjee told The Telegraph, “We wanted Alapan only for three months to take care of the pandemic situation, but see how they behaved…. Now I have managed to keep him for three years,” adding, “It was proven one more time that they cannot dictate to or browbeat Bengal.”

It is believed that calling Bandyopadhyay to Delhi was a move by Delhi to chastise Banerjee for raising objections to the presence of a local BJP MLA at a meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kalaikunda.

Banerjee had then written to the Prime Minister saying that she was “shocked and stunned by the unilateral order” of May 28, and that the order “came without any prior consultation with the Government of West Bengal”. Banerjee had said, “The unilateral order / directive is legally untenable, historically unprecedented and wholly unconstitutional.”

She had also addressed the elephant in the room saying, “I really and sincerely hope that this latest order is not related to my meeting with you at Kalaikunda. If that be the reason, it would be sad, unfortunate and would amount to sacrificing public interest at the altar of misplaced priorities.”

Alapan is a 1987 batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer and Banerjee’s latest move in retaining him is expected to inspire confidence among the state bureaucracy that she stands by her team and is not afraid of going the extra mile for them. She has displayed similar loyalty toward several top police officers in her state. In her first action after taking oath on May 5, Mamata Banerjee had transferred as many as 29 IPS officers and one IAS officer. Banerjee also brought back Virendra as Director General of Police (DGP) and Javed Shamim as Additional Director General (ADG) Law and Order. Both men had been shunted out by the Election Commission (EC).

Related:

Untenable, unprecedented and unconstitutional: Mamata Banerji on WB Chief Secy’s transfer order
 Mamata Banerjee transfers IPS, IAS officers shortly after taking oath

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