Unholy nexus between UPA and Left: Mamata
28 Dec 2012 7:10 AM IST
Attacking the central government during the the National Development Council meeting, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused it of an ‘unholy nexus’ with the former Left Front government of West Bengal, leaving the state in a ‘disastrous’ financial situation with a debt burden of 2 lakh crores, and warned that patience was running out.
‘We have waited for a year and a half but the patience of our people is running out. I am hoping that my presentation on Thursday… will touch a chord in the heart of the government of India to move forward on the debt impasse,’ Banerjee warned in her speech, which was read out by finance minister Amit Mitra.
‘I must ask as to why the central government allowed the state of West Bengal to fall into a debt trap by becoming a party to the years of profligacy of the Left Front government? In retrospect, this unholy nexus has left our government in a disastrous financial condition,’ said TMC chief.
It was ‘unfortunate that the UPA-I and UPA-II governments permitted the Left Front government to rampantly borrow and build up the debt burden,’ she added. Banerjee stressed that it was important that before finalising the 12th Plan document, the ‘unbearable debt burden of over 2 lakh crores thrust upon our government’ needs to be mitigated by the Centre ‘here and now’. She also claimed that the Centre had allowed the erstwhile state government to borrow 5,173 crores within 28 days, ‘just days before we took office.’
This resulted in ‘a sharp reduction in the quantum of loan available to our new government, within the FRBM limit, thereby tying our hands behind our backs even further,’ she added.
She also called it ‘ironic’ that ‘a state of 90 million people, larger in size than the combined population of Greece, France and Spain, has been left in the lurch while India pledged 10 billion to the IMF for addressing the financial crisis of the Eurozone.’
Speaking at a rally in Cooch Behar on Thursday, Banerjee said she would turn her state into a ‘sonar Bangla’ or golden Bengal if she got an opportunity to work for just 10 years. In her characteristic style of making promises before mass gathering, the chief minister said that in a new Bengal that would emerge, unemployed youths would not have to go outside the state to seek jobs.
‘We have waited for a year and a half but the patience of our people is running out. I am hoping that my presentation on Thursday… will touch a chord in the heart of the government of India to move forward on the debt impasse,’ Banerjee warned in her speech, which was read out by finance minister Amit Mitra.
‘I must ask as to why the central government allowed the state of West Bengal to fall into a debt trap by becoming a party to the years of profligacy of the Left Front government? In retrospect, this unholy nexus has left our government in a disastrous financial condition,’ said TMC chief.
It was ‘unfortunate that the UPA-I and UPA-II governments permitted the Left Front government to rampantly borrow and build up the debt burden,’ she added. Banerjee stressed that it was important that before finalising the 12th Plan document, the ‘unbearable debt burden of over 2 lakh crores thrust upon our government’ needs to be mitigated by the Centre ‘here and now’. She also claimed that the Centre had allowed the erstwhile state government to borrow 5,173 crores within 28 days, ‘just days before we took office.’
This resulted in ‘a sharp reduction in the quantum of loan available to our new government, within the FRBM limit, thereby tying our hands behind our backs even further,’ she added.
She also called it ‘ironic’ that ‘a state of 90 million people, larger in size than the combined population of Greece, France and Spain, has been left in the lurch while India pledged 10 billion to the IMF for addressing the financial crisis of the Eurozone.’
Speaking at a rally in Cooch Behar on Thursday, Banerjee said she would turn her state into a ‘sonar Bangla’ or golden Bengal if she got an opportunity to work for just 10 years. In her characteristic style of making promises before mass gathering, the chief minister said that in a new Bengal that would emerge, unemployed youths would not have to go outside the state to seek jobs.
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