Not the time to fight with state governments: Arvind Kejriwal on West Bengal chief secretary transfer

New Delhi, May 31: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday that this was not the time to fight with state governments, but to confront the coronavirus pandemic together. Kejriwal was reacting to reports of the sudden transfer of West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay by the Centre that snowballed into a major controversy.

"This is not the time to fight with the state governments, but to fight the coronavirus together with everyone," Kejriwal tweeted, tagging a news report that Bandyopadhyay might likely to continue as chief secretary amid the relief relief for cyclone and Covid.

"This is the time to help the state governments, to provide them with vaccines, to work with all the state governments as team India. The whole life is left for politics," Kejriwal tweeted.

The Centre had in a surprise move on Friday night sought Bandyopadhyay's services and asked the state government to immediately release the top bureaucrat.

Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, was scheduled to retire on May 31 after completion of 60 years of age. However, he was granted a three-month extension following a nod from the Centre to work on Covid management.