NEW DELHI: All India Trinamool Congress, headed by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, is up in arms against Prime minister Narendra Modi's yesterday meeting on Covid-19 with the chief ministers.
Terming the PM's meeting with the CM's on Covid-19 'gyaan baato', session, the TMC, taking to its official Twitter handle, the party sought a reply from the PM on state's dues pending with the Central Government for a long time.
"Mr @narendramodi ,we would like to draw your kind attention to key numbers that you may have missed in today's (Wednesday) 'gyaan Baato' session. The government of India owes the government of West Bengal a whopping Rs 97807.91 crore! Care to shed light on this? Any plan to clear our dues?,the AITC tweeted.
After that, Mamata Banerjee also took a potshot at the Modi government and asked not to bulldoze democracy. "Mr @Narendra Modi should be the last person talking about cooperative federalism because'56 Inches) only knows how to accuse, exploit, discriminate and neglect Opposition states.Clear our dues,Mr Prime minister!",the party further attacked Modi through another tweet.
The PM at the virtual meeting with the CM's had expressed his displeasure over some states including West Bengal, not exempting all taxes from petrol and diesel fuels.
Taking a jibe at this, TMC further said that if the central government clears the West Bengal's dues(Rs 97,807.91 crore), the West Bengal government will certainly exempt all taxes from petrol and diesel for the next five years. TMC requested the PM to deliver on it.
In reaction to what the PM said at the virtual meeting on Wednesday,the TMC further said that the government of West Bengal has been giving a rebate of Rs 1 per litre on petrol and diesel since February 2021 to reduce the burden on people."So far the Government of West Bengal has waived Rs 400 crore road tax on vehicles also', TMC claimed.
Amid all this started on Wednesday after the PM's meeting on Covid-19, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit Delhi on April 28 or 29 to attend a program of judiciary, which is also to be inaugurated by the PM.
Sources said that she may meet PM Narendra Modi if she gets an appointment for which an official request has already been placed for approval to the PMO.