Alapan Bandopadhyay retires as Bengal Chief Secy, appointed as Chief Advisor to Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay retired from his office and simultaneously appointed Chief Advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (May 31).

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a media briefing announced that she has appointed Alapan Bandopadhyay as her chief advisor for the next three years. Meanwhile, HK Dwivedi has been appointed as the chief secretary of the state. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to withdraw the Centre's order recalling Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, and asserted her government "cannot release, and is not releasing" the top bureaucrat.

In a five-page letter, Mamta Banerjee urged prime minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the Centre's decision recalling the chief secretary after giving him a three-month extension.

Banerjee said she was shocked by the Centre's decision and termed the order as "unilateral", and pointed out that it had been done "without any prior consultation" with the state government.

"This so-called unilateral order is an unreasoned volte-face and by your own admission, against the interests of the state and its people.

"I humbly request you to withdraw, recall, reconsider your decision and rescind the latest so-called order in the larger public interest. I appeal to your conscience and good sense, on the behalf of the people of West Bengal," Banerjee said in her letter to PM Modi.