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NEW DELHI: A full-scale political battle has broken out between the BJP-led Centre and the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government, sparked off by the “unannounced” landing of a central team of officials in Kolkata on Monday morning.With West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee viewing the move as an attack on the federal scheme of governance, the TMC accused the Centre of “playing politics at a time when states and the Centre are expected to work together to combat coronavirus”.Banerjee shot off a letter to PM Narendra Modi protesting “breaking of federal norms”.Addressing an online press conference on Tuesday, TMC parliamentary leaders Sudip Bandopadhyay and Derek O’Brien questioned the Centre’s “intent”. “Why are opposition-governed states like West Bengal being put on targeted watch when states under BJP like Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, or even states like Tamil Nadu and Telangana, governed by friendly parties, with higher positive cases are not being monitored by the Centre,” they asked.“Unfortunately, when Bengal and all other states are fighting coronavirus , the Centre is fighting the states,” O’Brien said, adding, “The Centre refused to call off the budget session of Parliament and delayed a lockdown when the virus was spreading, paying no heed to TMC’s warning on social distancing to be observed, apparently to install a BJP government in Madhya Pradesh .”He further said, “It is a health emergency. Let’s fight it together, not as a state or Centre. Let’s get back to politics after this is over.”Bandopadhyay said, “People want to know what the central ministerial team is looking for, what it has found and why it has not consulted with the chief minister or any state government official on their visit.” He added that the state was coordinating with the Centre and following every guideline. “So, what happened suddenly?” he asked.Asked whether people would suffer if the war against coronavirus got caught in political wrangling, Bandopadhyay said, “Hopefully, good sense will prevail. The Centre will restrain itself in future and will consult state governments for comprehensive and well-structured moves to fight coronavirus and state governments will cooperate.”