Kolkata/ New Delhi: A chief minister visits another state and the host administration gives him a royal snub, turning a blind eye to his security or accommodation. 

Unbelievable? But it is something that should not surprise you in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal. 

According to an explosive letter in possession of MyNation, Tripura chief secretary LK Gupta has complained to his Bengal counterpart Malay Kumar De about the Bengal government’s cavalier attitude. 

In the letter written on December 9, Gupta alleged, “The district police of Cooch Behar neither made arrangements for his accommodation and transport, not shared the security arrangements made/planned for the Hon’ble chief minister, Tripura. You will appreciate this is an extremely serious matter”.

Biplab Kumar Deb, credited with devising a saffron takeover of the red bastion in Tripura, was slated to visit Cooch Behar as part of Amit Shah’s planned rath yatra in Bengal. 

The rath yatra was postponed because of judicial intervention and hence the Tripura CM didn’t go to Bengal in the end. However, given that Deb is a Z+ protectee, arrangements for his security and accommodation had to be made 24 hours before the visit. Those arrangements allegedly were not made by the Bengal government. The gravity of the allegation has made people in the corridors of power talking.

If that wasn’t all, the Tripura chief secretary chose to attach a letter from the state’s director general of police, AK Shukla, that had as its subject, “Non-cooperative attitude of district police of Cooch Behar district (Bengal) during the visit of an officer of Tripura police for ASL in connection with visit of Hon’ble chief minister of Tripura to the district”.

What’s even more interesting is that both the letters from the DGP of Tripura to the state’s chief secretary, and from him to his counterpart in Bengal were written on the same day. 

This alacrity shows the Tripura government is not ready to let go of this opportunity to make a point. 

BJP’s Bengal president, Dilip Ghosh, told MyNation that he was not surprised. He revealed that the Mamata government had meted out the same treatment to Amit Shah with regard to his security and accommodation. 

“The Bengal officials simply refused to cooperate, stating that they don’t have orders from Nabanna (state secretariat),” alleged Ghosh.    

At a time when Bengal is on the boil with the rath yatra debate, this is surely going to add more fuel to the fire.