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The BJP-led government at the Centre was spending Rs 20,000 crore for the Central Vista project, but held back Rs 7,500 crore due to West Bengal which would have provided work to the poor under MGNREGA, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee alleged on Saturday.
He also criticised Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Alipurduar MP John Barla and said his house looked like a “shopping mall” and only BJP “leaders were welcome in it”.
Campaigning for the July 8 panchayat elections in Falakata area of Alipurduar district on Saturday, Abhishek said, “The Prime Minister is spending over Rs 20,000 crore on the Central Vista project but has blocked Bengal’s share of Rs 7,500 crore…There are over 6.61 lakh people in Alipurduar whose livelihoods depend on the 100 days of work offered (under the MGNREGA scheme). There are around 1.33 lakh families in the district, who had worked under 100 Days of Work. For two years, the Centre has blocked their rightful wages. They have blocked Rs 7,500 crore under the MGNREGA scheme and Rs 8,200 crore under the PM Awas Yojana.”
In the 2021 Assembly elections, the BJP had won all seats in Alipurduar districts.
Targeting Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Alipurduar MP John Barla, the Trinamool leader said, “I came here with my report card. Does John Barla have the power to come here with a report card on what the Modi government did in Alipurduar for the past
nine years?”
“John Barla’s house, which looks like a shopping mall, is an example of BJP’s ‘acche din’. It is only reserved for their leaders and not the common man. The public is suffering due to inflation,” said Banerjee
Hitting back, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP claimed that the people of West Bengal have started hating the TMC.“This will be proved in the panchayat polls, the precursor of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Be on guard so that your votes are not looted,” he told a rally in Bagda in North 24 Parganas district. Barla did not immediately react to the allegations leveled by Abhishek.
— With PTI inputs
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