Kolkata, March 14 -- Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's challenge to the BJP to engage in a debate on how the Centre has withheld state's dues received no response from the state BJP till late Thursday evening as it back-tracked citing "flimsy excuses".
Banerjee has challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to publish a white paper as the BJP claims that the funds have been released to Bengal.
After Banerjee on X demanded a white paper from the Modi government and urged the BJP to engage in a debate, the state BJP responded on social media saying a Yuva Morcha leader will meet Banerjee and take part in a debate on this issue. But, none of the BJP leaders turned up at Maynaguri Town Club Ground where Banerjee was attending a rally on Thursday.
"This is an Open Challenge to PM @narendramodi. If the BJP-led Centre claims that they have released funds for Awas Yojana and MGNREGA, we demand White Papers. Today, the Twitter war between Shri @abhishekaitc and @BJP4Bengal was proof enough that the BJP is scared!" Trinamool Congress posted on X.
"Banerjee's open challenge to produce white paper on Awas Yojana & MGNREGA increases BJP's worry. As the 2024 Lok Sabha polls inch closer, the pitched battle between the Jomidars of Delhi and the Jonogon of Bengal reached an all-time high on Thursday forcing the Bengal BJP to backtrack from their claims after Banerjee issued an open challenge to debate the economic blockade imposed by the Modi government," Trinamool Congress said.
Following misleading advertisements in Bengal's newspapers today, Banerjee threw a curveball by extending an invitation to the BJP to come to his public meeting in Maynaguri with a white paper on Awas Yojana and MGNREGA and engage in a debate. BJP then posted on X that they would send their leader anywhere to argue on the claims made by the Modi government. In response to the same, Abhishek Banerjee wrote: "Today 3 pm at Maynaguri Town Club Ground. Pl come with the white paper on AWAS and MGNREGA. See you." However, within 60 minutes of making tall claims, the BJP ran away from the challenge making flimsy excuses.
Earlier in the day, Banerjee had slammed the BJP for wasting public funds to spread lies. "The @BJP4India is SQUANDERING PUBLIC FUNDS to SPREAD FALSEHOODS. I challenge the BJP leadership to engage in a ONE-ON-ONE DEBATE with me and RELEASE WHITE PAPER proving the allocation of even 1 PAISA to progs like AWAS YOJNA & MGNREGA since their defeat in the 2021 WB elections," he wrote on X.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale also called out BJP's lies saying: "This tweet is a clear indication that the challenge given by @abhishekaitc has rattled the 2 BJP zamindars in Delhi & their scam-tainted operator in Bengal..Ask PM Modi & Amit Shah to answer - have they given a SINGLE PENNY of Bengal's rightful dues for MNREGA & Awas Yojana since their thumping loss in 2021?"
Elaborating on the matter, party's National Spokesperson Dr Shashi Panja said: "Today's newspapers are flooded with advertisements of the Union Government and PM Narendra Modi's false, misleading, and fabricated statements. They claim that 4.89 lakh houses have been sanctioned for the state of West Bengal. Where is the money? The PM in his public rallies claimed that 42,000 crores have been released in the last three financial years for the state of West Bengal.
But the state government wrote a letter on December 14, 2022 to ask you whether you would release the funds or not. The PM must answer - does he have the letter? Yes or No?"
Urging the Central government and the Prime Minister to come clean on the matter, Dr Panja added: "We are asking for a white paper from the honourable PM. Let us have the transaction details of the money that you have sanctioned. Why can't you address the press conference and mention that these have been given to the state of West Bengal beginning for the financial years beginning from 2020 up to 2023-24? We challenge you to do this. You won't do this as you are acting like Jomidars."
"In a letter dated November 24, 2022, Nagendra Nath Singha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development informed the Panchayati and Rural Development Department of Bengal that 11,36,488 eligible beneficiaries of Awas Yojana had been identified and the first installment would be credited directly into their bank accounts within one month. More than 15 months have elapsed; so, why have funds not been released," Trinamool asked.
It also said: "In a written reply to a question, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti informed that Uttar Pradesh (3,64,401) and Madhya Pradesh (1,23,068) saw the highest number of job card deletion for the reason of being 'fake'. In comparison Bengal saw a negligible 5,651 deletions. So, why have funds for over 59 lakh MGNREGA workers been withheld for over 2 years now? Why are the people of Bengal being selectively targeted and deprived of their rightful entitlements."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.