KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee dug out Sunday an undated picture of PM Modi seated and President Droupadi Murmu standing at an event, flagging it as “proof of who actually shows respect” while contesting his charge that TMC govt had “gravely insulted” the presidential chair with a protocol breach at Siliguri.“Why were you sitting when she was standing?” Mamata said from her SIR protest dais. “We honour every person holding constitutional posts.”
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The PM attacks and disrespects Bengal before every election,” said the CM. Mamata alleged that Bengal was being singled out ahead of the assembly polls.She insisted the state had written to the organisers of the International Santal Conference on March 4, citing its inability to be part of the event due to various reasons.
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“But the Centre ignored it. If anything went wrong at the event, the Centre should be held responsible. Don’t blame us,” she said.The Siliguri conference, the CM insisted, was a private programme the state govt had never been asked to support. On allegations about inadequate toilets and other facilities, she said the venue was under the Airport Authority of India’s jurisdiction. “The green room, too, had been set up by the organisers in AAI territory. If anything went wrong there, it is their failure.”On the PM invoking International Women’s Day while criticising how Bengal treated a woman President, Mamata said, “We will celebrate Women’s Day a thousand times. We have been celebrating it since our childhood. You do not have the right to criticise us.”Chief secretary Nandini Chakravorty, who received a communication from Union home secretary Govind Mohan seeking an explanation for the “protocol breach”, formally responded in the evening, sources said.The controversy appeared to unite the opposition behind TMC. Congress’s Supriya Shrinate said the President’s office must not be used to “advance BJP’s political agenda”.
