Malda (WB), May 3: Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Congress over its “double standards” in its conviction to fight against the BJP and wondered whether Congress MPs from Bengal have ever raised the issue of “financial deprivation” of the state by the Centre in Parliament.
Banerjee, the TMC national general secretary, while addressing a rally as part of the ‘Trinamool-eh Nabajowar’ (new wave in Trinamool) mass outreach campaign in Malatipur in Malda district this evening, criticized state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is also Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha of never taking the effort to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to highlight the plight of people of Malda, as the Centre has “blocked due funds” under the MGNREGA scheme.
Malda, a minority-dominated district, was once considered a stronghold of the Congress. Presently, one of the two Lok Sabha seats in the district is with Congress, whereas another is with the BJP.
“In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, one constituency in Malda was won by BJP, while Congress won the other. The Congress MP (Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury) and their leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have not once met Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for the people’s dues of Bengal. Not once has he raised the demand to the Centre to release the funds owed to Bengal,” Banerjee said while addressing the rally this evening.
Accusing the Congress in Bengal of having a “tacit understanding” with the BJP, the TMC leader said the “duplicity of Congress knows no boundaries”.
“Next time these Congress and BJP leaders seek your vote, ask them about funds under MGNREGA, Awas Yojana. Tell them it is Mamata Banerjee paying for Lakshmi Bhandar; it is Mamata Didi providing us free ration,” he said.
Reacting to Banerjee’s allegations, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya said the TMC has never tried to take along the opposition parties while fighting for the demands of the state.
“The allegations are entirely baseless. Our two Lok Sabha MPs and I have raised the issues and demands of the people of the state in New Delhi on various occasions. We raised the issues in Parliament and with various ministries,” he said.
Chowdhury said the TMC leaders have never gotten in touch with Congress on the issue of the state’s demand.
“During the TMC rule, the ruling party has never called us for any meeting on the issue of development. Even when administrative meetings are held in Malda and Murshidabad, the Congress MPs are never invited,” he said. (PTI)
Chowdhury is a five-time Congress MP from Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency in Murshidabad district.
The Congress has just two Lok Sabha MPs and one Rajya Sabha MP from Bengal. It has only one MLA in the state assembly.
The Congress and the CPI(M) led Left Front are in an alliance fighting against the state’s BJP and TMC.
“It is the people of Malda who voted for the BJP MP here, and then he went to Delhi, asking the Delhi leaders to stop funds for Bengal. These leaders should realise that it won’t take the people more than 10 seconds to teach them a lesson in the next elections,” he said.
Abhishek, who only addressed a single rally on Wednesday, conducted three padayatras during the day as part of the mass connect programme in various areas of Malda district and spoke to common people about their grievances and problems.
On Thursday, Abhishek, along with West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee would jointly conduct the Adhiveshan programme in Malda in the evening. (PTI)
