Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today skipped a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assess the aftermath of Cyclone Yaas. According to reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar, along with Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Debashree Chaudhari, were made to wait for half an hour before the Banerjee briefly showed up. "You wanted to meet me that is why I have come today. Me and my Chief Secretary want to submit this report to you. Now we have a meeting at Digha so we seek your permission to leave," the Chief Minister was quoted as saying.
A photo of the meeting, tweeted by Mr Dhankhar, showed the Prime Minister at the head of a table with BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and other officials to his left but empty chairs to his right. However, CM Banerjee said to ANI, "PM had called meeting. We didn't know I had meeting in Digha. I went to Kalaikunda & gave PM report, asking for Rs 20,000 Cr- Rs 10,000 cr each for Digha Development & Sundarban Development. I told him you (state's officials) wanted to meet me. I took his permission & left."Governer of West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankar condemned Banerjee's ettiquete. He wrote on Twitter, "It would have served interests of state and its people for CM and officials @MamataOfficial o attend Review Meet by PM. Confrontational stance ill serves interests of State or democracy. Non participation by CM and officials not in sync with constitutionalism or rule of law."