Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti today (October 7) asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre has consistently disbursed MGNREGA dues to West Bengal over the past nine years and alleged that discrepancies exist in the utilization of funds for the 100 days' work scheme in certain districts of the state.
She challenged the Trinamool Congress government to move court if it thought that the Centre is holding back funds under the scheme illegally.
The central minister, who was on a visit to the city, denied TMC's allegations that she had refused to meet the party's delegates in New Delhi regarding MGNREGA dues and said she was willing to engage in discussions on the issue but Bengal's ruling party engaged itself in "political theatrics".
Jyoti's remarks drew sharp response from the Bengal ruling party, which slammed the union minister of state for rural development for "spreading falsehood" about the meeting with the party's delegates and said that it is prepared to meet her at its protest site near Raj Bhavan to discuss the issue.
TMC activists led by Abhishek Banerjee are staging a sit-in outside the Raj Bhavan for the third day today over the MGNREGA dues. They have vowed to continue with the protest until Governor CV Ananda Bose meets them at the protest site.
Dismissing TMC's allegations that she refused to meet the party's team in New Delhi for talks on the dues of the central scheme, the central minister said, "I wanted to meet them and waited for nearly two and a half hours. But they kept shifting goalposts on the number of members in the delegation.
"The TMC is now leveling false allegations that I ran away through the back door. It is spreading lies. The party delegates did not want to meet me, they just wanted to create a drama," she claimed.
Recounting the sequence of events when TMC leaders were in Delhi and were to meet her, the union minister said the TMC initially proposed a delegation of five members. But later, it increased it to ten and eventually said the entire TMC parliamentary party would like to meet her.
"I agreed to this request too and instructed my office colleagues to make the necessary arrangements. However, at the last minute, the TMC leaders insisted that I meet the common people who were accompanying them," she said.
The union minister said she had never had any objection to meeting the common people but wanted to meet the TMC delegation first.
"There are complaints of irregularities in the distribution of job cards of the scheme. The union rural development ministry sent several letters to the West Bengal government pointing out the irregularities in implementation of MGNREGS. But the state government did not take any action," Jyoti said.
"Why is TMC not going to the court? It will never do that as it knows that there has been rampant corruption and there will be a CBI probe in the matter if it moves the court," she said.
Jyoti expressed her willingness to engage in talks with the TMC delegation anytime but questioned the party's sincerity on the issue.
"I am in Kolkata and if they (TMC) want, they can meet me. I will discuss all issues," she said.
TMC hits back at BJP:
TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and party MPs, MLAs and ministers, along with people engaged in MGNREGA work had earlier this week staged a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and marched to Krishi Bhawan, where they were scheduled to meet Jyoti at her office. However, after about an hour and a half, the TMC leaders claimed that the minister refused to meet them and said a five-member delegation would meet her.
Responding to the union minister's comments, TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that if she is interested in talks, she must come to the site of the party's ongoing protest outside Raj Bhavan and speak to the agitators.
"We have no ego. If she is interested in talks, let her come to the Raj Bhavan. We will discuss all the issues with her. But we won''t go to the BJP office to meet her," he said.
Condemning the union minister for allegedly the TMC delegates to come there for a discussion on the state's MGNREGA dues, Banerjee called it a manifestation of "zamindari culture".
"When we went to meet her in New Delhi, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti not only refused to meet us after making us wait for a long time but also instructed the police to remove us from Krishi Bhawan. Just yesterday, I had mentionedthat senior BJP leaders, including Giriraj Singh and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti will come to Kolkata to meet us sensing the people's anger," he said.
"We won't budge an inch from the dharna site. If BJP leaders genuinely care about the welfare of the people, they should prove it by meeting us where the battle for justice rages right here!" the party said in a post on its official 'X' handle.
In a series of tweets the TMC lambasted the union minister and dismissed her claims.
"@BJP4India leaders ridiculed our battle for people's rights as 'tamasha', 'nautanki', 'drama' and what not. What about @SadhviNiranjan's press conference today? She unabashedly rambled without addressing people's concerns and hastily ran off to UP. If this isn't a meticulously staged drama, then we do not know what is!" The TMC said that the union minister refused to meet the party delegation as she preferred meeting only the leaders, not the deprived people of Bengal. "Have some regard for your public duties!" it said in yet another post.
(With PTI inputs)
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