In a first ever attempt at quick response, the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted back to counter Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s charge that the UPA Government adopted ‘discriminatory’ approach towards the non-Congress-ruled States.
‘’The Centre has allocated funds to States according to mutually agreed formula for economic justice,’’ the PMO posted on Twitter, within minutes of Modi’s remarks, made at the Kolkata Merchants Chambers of Commerce, getting broadcast. Being the first of its kind, this long distance Kolkata-New Delhi sparring, via media, generated a bit of mirth in the political circles since it was as much about wooing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as it was about the uneven Centre-State relations.
Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress could be the swing factor for both Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi.The UPA Government needs Mamata’s tacit support for its survival and is wooing her with an offer of a special package under backward region grants scheme.