KOLKATA: Accusing the West Bengal government of "illegally diverting" Central funds, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, urged Union Finance minister to take appropriate steps so that the "malpractices" come to an end.
He made the accusation in a series of tweets and also wrote a letter to the Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this regard.
The BJP leader in a tweet alleged that the state government had "tactfully" opened the State Nodal Account of Public Finance Management System in a private bank where the State Emergency Relief Fund Account was in operation so that Central funds could be "easily diverted".
"It is a can of worms waiting to be opened," he wrote on the micro-blogging site on Thursday.
The MLA from Nandigram requested the Union minister to "keep a tab" on the transactions of the state government and attached a copy of the letter, dated September 29, with his tweet.
Adhikari later tweeted, "one tweet of mine and West Bengal government is out of line. A scared WB government, wary of covering their tracks, is desperate to destroy evidence."
Quoting a state finance department circular that the e-office server will be down for six days, he said it is nothing but an "excuse to wipe off evidence".
"In the guise of this downtime, West Bengal Finance Department officers would try to delete all sensitive files and notings. GOI must depute a senior level officer to keep an eye on their illegal activities, so that this corrupt WB government is caught red-handed," he said.
Reacting to Adhikari's tweets, TMC spokesperson and senior Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said "Suvendu Adhikari is peddling lies and falsehood for narrow political gains.
His allegations are concocted and meant to malign the state in every possible way.
"The state is not diverting central funds for other purposes. Instead, West Bengal is yet to get thousands of crores of its dues from the Centre and is facing great difficulty to implement some projects."