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Bengal: Mamata Banerjee to start sit-in today demanding release of central funds
Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will hold a separate rally to protest against the Centre’s alleged anti-people policies and use of central agencies targeting opposition parties
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will start a sit-in demonstration from 12 noon in central Kolkata today demanding release of central funds. The dharna will continue till Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, a few hundred yards away, Abhishek Banerjee the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo’s nephew and the party’s national general secretary, will hold a separate rally to protest against the Centre’s alleged anti-people policies and use of central agencies targeting opposition parties.
“I will hold a sit-in demonstration from tomorrow. The Centre must release funds. They also need to answer why the democracy is being stifled,” Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday while addressing a government programme in Hooghly district.
She also said that the decision to support the passage of Goods and Services Tax (GST) was a big mistake her party had made.
“After the GST came in, the Centre has been taking away all the money. But it was a big mistake to support it. We had thought that the states would be benefitted. But now they have frozen all the central funds,” she said.
With the crucial panchayat election approaching, the political heat in the state is likely to soar in the city today as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also scheduled to bring out a rally a few kilometres away. A Congress rally is also scheduled.
Top leaders of the Bengal BJP including the party’s state chief Sukanta Majumdar, and leader of the Opposition in the state legislative assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, will kick off the rally against alleged corruption in the state.
On Tuesday, the BJP organised a rally in central Kolkata.
“Walked alongside Farmers in a Procession organised by the WB State @bjpkm4kisan unit in Kolkata, demanding WB Govt’s intervention in bailing out Potato Farmers by taking initiatives to buy Potatoes at MSP & providing relief to the farmers by waiving off loan instalments for now,” Adhikari tweeted.
On Tuesday, the Calcutta high court gave permission to Abhishek Banerjee to hold a rally at the Shaheed Minar.
The court, however, directed the Kolkata Police to tighten security and make specific arrangements as a group of state government employees are staging a sit-in demonstration over the past two months demanding hike in DA at par with the central government.
