‘Will retrieve Bengal’s dues within 3 months once INDIA bloc forms govt’

Kolkata: Campaigning for his party candidates of Arambagh and Barrackpore seats, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general

secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday said as soon as the BJP government at the Centre gets dislodged from power, his party will get back the dues of Rs 1.65 lakh crore owed to Bengal.

Banerjee assured the gathering that the exit of the BJP government at the Centre is inevitable. He said BJP is anti-poor and anti-people and that is apparent from how the Centre has withheld dues owed to Bengal in relation to 100 days work under MGNREGA and PM Awas Yojana.

He urged the people to give a “befitting” reply to the BJP in this Lok Sabha elections.

Banerjee claimed that following the defeat of the BJP, “TMC will play a decisive role in the formation of a government at the Centre as part of the INDIA bloc”. “As soon as that happens, we will get back the dues for Bengal and will use it rightly for people’s welfare. We will get it back in three months from the time of the formation of the new Central government,” he promised.

Abhishek also held a contrasting picture where he said that on one hand the BJP-led Centre is depriving people of their rightful dues and on the other TMC is spending on welfare schemes for people in Bengal.

On the Sandeshkhali issue, he called the BJP “anti-national” and accused the party of allegedly insulting the women by paying them money to level false allegations of rape. He said that by doing this the BJP has also insulted Bengal.

Banerjee maintained his position on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as he claimed once again that if it is implemented the most affected will be the backward classes.

He alleged that the BJP wants to change the Constitution to suppress the rights of minorities and backward classes.