Combative West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is going to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union finance minister P. Chidambaram to ask them why they were keeping Bengal deprived. “I am not going to Delhi with a begging bowl. I will ask them why my state was being deprived,” Ms Banerjee said. The chief minister was addressing a news conference at the Writers’ Buildings hours before she left for Delhi.
The official purpose of her three-day visit is to hold a meeting with Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Ahluwalia to finalise the annual plan for 2013-14 for Bengal. However, in her meeting with Dr Singh and Mr Chidambaram, she will press for her demand for a bailout package for the cash-strapped state. She is likely to repeat her demand for a moratorium for three years on the interest payment which is draining the state exchequer.
Ms Banerjee has a meeting at the Planning Commission on Tuesday at around 3 pm and she has an appointment with the Prime Minister later in the evening on the same day. She will meet Mr Chidambaram on Wednesday.
Repeating her old charge against the Centre she said that it had taken away `21,000 crore in 2012 and `25,000 crore this year as interest payment on the huge borrowings for which the previous Left Front government was responsible. She also claimed that the
Centre took away `40,000 crore on various tax collection every year and gave back only `18,000 to the state. Upping her ante, Ms Banerjee went so far as to accuse the Centre of imposing an economic blockade on the state. “I will complain to the Prime Minister about this economic blockade,” she added.
Ms Banerjee claimed that she was seeking the bailout package on the basis of the excellent performance of her government. “In less than two years, Bengal has emerged as the top state in the country so far as development is concerned,” she added.
In her meeting with the Planning Commission officials, Ms Banerjee will be accompanied by state finance minister Amit Mitra, urban development minister Firhad Hakim and panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee besides chief secretary and home secretary.
“We will make a presentation of our government’s achievements in the past 21 months at the Planning Commission,” Ms Banerjee said.