“Feel humiliated” says Mamata Banerjee after meeting with PM on COVID management

Continuing her barb, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday attacked PM Modi for humiliating Chief Ministers of opposition ruled states and reducing them to mere “puppets”.

PM Modi held a meeting with district officials along with the respective Chief Ministers to discuss Covid-19 management strategy wherein he emphasized on developing a strategy based on the local experiences to combat the pandemic.

Emerging from the meeting which was convened to discuss strategy and management to stop Coronavirus spread in rural areas, Mamata lashed out at the PM, saying that the Chief Ministers were not allowed to speak in the meeting.

Calling the meeting a “super flop” Banerjee said "This was a casual and super flop meeting. Only CMs of BJP-ruled states were allowed to speak and others were reduced to puppets."

"We feel insulted and humiliated. This is an attempt to bulldoze the federal structure of the country. PM Modi is so insecure that he did not listen to us," Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat 'Nabanna'.

This meeting was attended by 54 district magistrates of 10 states with high COVID-19 caseload.

She said the prime minister neither asked how West Bengal is handling the COVID situation and nor did he enquire about the stock of vaccines or oxygen.

"There was not a single question from the PM about the 'black fungus'," she said, adding that four such cases have been detected in the state.

Referring to the PM's claim that the COVID-19 caseload is reducing in the country, Banerjee asked, "If the total number of cases is declining, why are so many deaths due to the coronavirus infection being reported."

The chief minister also alleged that the central government has "no proper plans" in dealing with the COVID situation in the country.

Two days ago, on May 18 as well, PM Modi had interacted with 46 district magistrates from nine states virtually, asking all district heads to come up with creative ideas to combat the pandemic.

With PTI inputs