Mamata raises pitch against Pranab, asks PM for funds

Raising the pitch against finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's direct intervention for the financial bail-out package for West Bengal.

Raising the pitch against finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's direct intervention for the financial bail-out package for West Bengal.

HT Image

According to the Trinamool camp, the Prime Minister has assured help to overcome all difficulties.

At the end of an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Sunday, Trinamool Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha and minister of state (MoS) for health Sudip Bandopadhyay met the Prime Minister

exclusively after the West Bengal chief minister's public outcry on Saturday over

the union finance ministry's delay in releasing money for her state.

Referring to Mukherjee's recent remarks at a party meet in Kolkata that one state can't get special aid over other states and he could not give money in Mohammad Bin Tughlaq's arbitrary style, Bandopadhyay told the PM, "Bengal CM was repeatedly seeking help from the Centre. But now Bengal is compared with other states. We are even hearing comments about asking money in Tughlaqi style."

"He (the Prime Minister) asked Mamata to be patient. I told him she is already showing enough patience," Bandopadhyay told HT. Banerjee, miffed with Mukherjee, may come to Delhi and talk to PM.