Kolkata, May 24 (IANS) 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.

CM Banerjee claimed that she was allowed to speak only for five minutes when representatives in the meeting who spoke before her were allowed 10 to 20 minutes to present their speeches.

However, the Union Government dismissed her allegations through the fact-check handle of the Press Information Bureau.

The PIB statement, which was issued then, claimed that Mamata Banerjee’s speaking time in that meeting was over, and even the bell was not rung to mark it.

Incidentally, Mamata Banerjee was the only Chief Minister from any non- NDA ruled state to attend the NITI Aayog meeting. She decided to attend the meeting despite the Chief Ministers from the opposition INDIA bloc deciding to boycott the meeting.

Because she decided to attend the meeting, some members of the opposition bloc also raised the point of clandestine understanding between the BJP and Trinamool Congress.

–IANS

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