KOLKATA: The TMC's sit-in outside Raj Bhavan here for the third consecutive day on Saturday demanding the clearance of the dues to West Bengal under MGNREGA, kept Bengal's political scenario simmering through the day.
Union Minister of State for Rural Development of India Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee during the day accused each other of spreading falsehoods on the meeting between the TMC delegates and the central minister in Delhi earlier this week.
The TMC has accused her of not meeting Banerjee and the party delegation in Delhi and fleeing through the back door of her office on October 4.
Refuting claims, Jyoti in a press conference at the BJP’s party office, said, "TMC’s allegation is baseless and not true. I gave them time to meet but they kept changing their conditions for the meeting. I waited but they did not meet me. They alleged I fled through the back door of my office which is a blatant lie."
Banerjee led the protest along with TMC MPs, MLAs, ministers and MGNREGA job card holders at Jantar Mantar in the national capital on October 2 and 3 to press for the Centre’s release of funds due to Bengal under the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
Banerjee alleged that the protesters were dragged out of Jyoti’s office at the rural development ministry at Krishi Bhawan where they were waiting to meet her. The chief minister’s nephew said, “We were thrown out of her office like dogs and cats on October 4. She ignored the rights of Bengal’s poor people. Now she realises what she did. Our rightful demand has forced her to come to Kolkata.”
Banerjee on Thursday had announced to continue the demonstration in front of Raj Bhavan till Governor C V Ananda Bose met a delegation of Bengal’s ruling party. Bose had left to visit flood-affected areas in north Bengal without meeting the TMC delegation on Thursday.
Accusing the TMC-led government of misusing the Centre’s fund, Jyoti said, “Malpractices were detected during the year 19920 and 2021 and we repeatedly asked the state government to take action against the persons responsible for it. But no action was taken against them. On October 4, I told the TMC leaders that meet me and sort out the issues and I will definitely release the funds. But they did not.”
Jyoti expressed her willingness to engage in talks with the TMC delegation at any time but questioned the sincerity of the West Bengal ruling party on the issue. She offered to meet with them while she was in Kolkata.
Banerjee in response suggested that she should come to Raj Bhavan if she wanted to engage in discussions with TMC.
"We are open to talks. If she is interested she can come to the Raj Bhavan and we will discuss all the issues. However, we won't go to the BJP party office to meet her," Banerjee said.
Meanwhile, a three-member Trinamool Congress delegation met Governor Bose in Darjeeling on Saturday and urged the clearance of the state's outstanding financial dues under the 100 days' work scheme from the Centre.
They also requested the governor to meet the protesters who are on an indefinite sit-in near the Raj Bhavan under the leadership of Abhishek Banerjee since Thursday.
After the closed-door meeting with the TMC delegation, a Raj Bhavan official announced that Bose would take up the matter of MGNREGA dues with the Centre.
(With PTI inputs)