The Trinamool Congress has hit out at the BJP national leadership for keeping Bengal low on its agenda which could be proved by the “insignificant” allocation of Ministerial berth to its MPs from the State.

Speaking on the central deprivation of Bengal party leader and spokesperson Shantanu Sen said that Bengal was “so low on BJP’s agenda that they have not only given only two ministers of State from this State but also not a Cabinet minister has been given from State … this shows the amount of importance they attach to Bengal … whereas Prime Minister Narendra Modi and

Home Minister Amit Shah had promised a lot to the people of this State before the elections.”

BJP has won 12 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats from Bengal in recently concluded general elections.

The two ministers of State from Bengal are Sukanta Majumdar the State BJP president and Shantanu Thakur a leader of the numerically strong Matua community.  While Majumdar won theBalurghat seat for the second consecutive time Thakur too retained the Bongaon seat in North 24 Parganas.

Slamming the saffron leadership for “politically exploiting” the people of Bengal Sen a former MP said even in 2019 when the BJP had given a spectacular performance in Bengal winning for the first time as many as 18 seats the MPs from the State were considered for only lesser portfolios.“They were given State ministry … there was not a single Cabinet minister from this State … not even Dilip Ghosh who led their party to such heights was considered for a Cabinet berth ..; this shows the BJP’s respect for the people of Bengal,” he said adding “the people of Bengal will now decide whether they will continue to support the BJP in the future.”

The TMC which won  29 seats got about 2.75 crore votes while the BJP got about 2.35 crore votes. The Left and Congress combine got about 65 lakh votes. “After Mamata Banerjee there has been no fulltime Cabinet Minister from Bengal with a small exception of Dinesh Trivedi and Mukul Roy … this proves that Bengal’s stature in national politics is gradually falling … because of a number of reasons,” said BN Chakrabarty a sephologist adding the State with with third highest LS seats should have been given at least one Cabinet berth. Depriving the State of a Cabinet port folio and not clearing the MNREGA funds perhaps boomeranged for the BJP, Shivaji Bose a professor of political science said.