Kolkata, May 24
Soon after West Bengal Chief Minister skipped the crucial meeting of NITI Aayog at New Delhi on Saturday, a political slugfest erupted in the state between Trinamool Congress and the BJP.
According to BJP's Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal and spokesman Samik Bhattacharya, last year, the Chief Minister walked out of the NITI Aayog meeting, floating a baseless allegation that her microphone was stopped during her speech.
"As it is, the financial vulnerability of West Bengal is at an alarming stage. Unemployment and migrant workers from West Bengal are the major problems. In such a situation, the Chief Minister should have attended the meeting to find out avenues on how these hurdles could be overcome by working closely with the Union government. But she chose to skip the meeting to satisfy her political ego and sacrificed the interest of the state," he said.
However, Trinamool Congress state vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar said: "Last year, it was proved that the Union government did not desire to listen to what our Chief Minister wanted to say, and hence her microphone was stopped amid her speech. This was an insult to the Chief Minister. Why would she attend the meeting to be insulted again?"
To recall, in the last meeting of NITI Aayog on July 27 last year, Mamata Banerjee walked out, alleging that her microphone was muted during her speech, and therefore, she could not speak for more than five minutes.