Mamata Banerjee dharna: In an attempt to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the upcoming panchayat polls in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee kicked off a two-day "dharna" (protest) in Kolkata today (March 29). Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) also staged a protest against the centre at Ambedkar Statue in the Parliament complex today.
According to reports, the Chief Minister will begin the protest at the Ambedkar Statue in the capital city of Kolkata at 12 pm which will culminate on Thursday evening (March 300
Hitting out at the central government, Banerjee alleged that the BJP-led government has not released funds for the MGNREGA project for the state and other initiatives of its housing and road departments.
Bengal CM accuses Centre of not releasing MGNREGA funds
"The Centre has stopped releasing funds for MGNREGA and Indira Awas Yojana (Grameen). Besides, it has also stopped scholarships for OBC students," she said on Tuesday, while launching a project to construct 12,000 km of rural roads.
Launching the 'Pathashree-Rastashree' scheme ahead of panchayat elections due later this year, Banerjee had said the entire expenditure of Rs 3.75 thousand crores for constructing the rural roads would be borne by the state and not the central government.
"The Centre has not released over Rs 7,000 crores pending under the MGNREGA scheme and has not given work to our people despite West Bengal topping the list of states in completing the work under the initiative… We believe jealousy or politics may be the reason behind this," she said.
TMC MPs protest over 'Save Democracy, Federalism and Parliament' issue
Earlier, Banerjee had alleged that West Bengal has not received its due from the Centre and even in this year's budget, there was nothing for the eastern state. The TMC MPs held the protest over the issue of 'Save Democracy, Federalism and Parliament'. In a major development, the TMC backed Rahul Gandhi and Congress over his disqualification and joined the Congress meeting on March 27 in the Parliament building.
(With inputs from agencies)
