NITI Aayog Mamata Banerjee boycotts NITI Aayog meeting, claims her microphone was turned off
New Delhi/IBNS: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday boycotted the NITI Aayog meeting alleging that she was insulted by not being allowed to speak for more than five minutes while her counterparts from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states received ample time.
Speaking to the reporters, a furious Mamata Banerjee said, "I have boycotted the meeting. They had allowed Chandrababu Naidu to speak for 20 minutes, CMs of Assam, Goa, Chhattisgarh 10-12 minutes but I was allowed only five minutes. This is unfair.
"I was the only one from the opposition-ruled states but was stopped at five minutes. I was attending this meeting for a greater interest. This is an insult. I won't attend my meeting further."
"While I was raising the point about how my state has been deprived, my mic was stopped," she added.
Mamata Banerjee was the only Chief Minister from the INDIA bloc to attend the meeting, which was presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
TMC-BJP tussle over Budget 2024
Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed the Modi government's first budget in the third term calling it "directionless" and "visionless".
Banerjee said the budget is filled with "political mission".
"This budget is totally directionless, anti-people, and visionless. This budget has only the political mission. I don't see any light in this budget but darkness," the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister, who is the arch-rival of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has slammed the Centre for not giving assistance to her state to tackle natural calamities while the budget has an allocation for Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim for the same purpose.
"They (BJP) come to Darjeeling for votes but forget the people from the district once the elections are over," she said and added, "Floods & natural calamities are an annual ordeal for West Bengal, yet the Centre snubs us from the flood management fund! What's West Bengal's fault? Is it for voting against you?"
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman engaged in a fierce faceoff with the Trinamool Congress MPs in Parliament after the party led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the budget as "discriminatory" and "biased".
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Sitharaman said, "Yesterday, the TMC questioned the Budget, saying nothing has been given to Bengal.
"Let me highlight the fact that several schemes given by the Prime Minister in the last 10 years have not even been implemented in West Bengal. And you have the audacity to ask me now?"
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