West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday said that she was unable to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi's calls made to her office as she was then camping at Kharagpur to closely monitor the possible advent of Cyclone Fani in the state.
Prime Minister Modi has said that he had called Banerjee twice on Saturday but his calls were not returned.
He had called up West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to inquire about the ground situation in the wake of the cyclone on Saturday prompting TMC to accuse Modi of trying to bypass the chief minister and that he does not respect the country's federal structurey.
Banerjee addressing a rally at Gopiballavpur sub-division of Jhargram Monday said "I was in Kharagpur monitoring the cyclone but the prime minister's calls were made to my office (in Kolkata) so I could not respond to them."
She said that Modi had called her for a meeting at Kalaikunda, where he landed for an election meeting after touring the cyclone battered Odisha. "Are we his servants that we have to go wherever he beckons? Now he will allege that I have not responded and have not shown cooperation."
"My(poll) meeting at Jhargram today was fixed. Elections are on in West Bengal, while it is over in Odisha. Why should I share dais with an expiry prime minister during election time?
Banerjee keeping up her attack said, "Earlier Modi used to say that he was a chaiwala. Now he has become a chowkidar (security guard)?"