There was pandemonium in Bengal Assembly as the BJP MLAs led by Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday raised anti-Trinamool Congress slogans before staging a walk-out after Speaker Biman Banerjee refused an adjournment to discuss the Comptroller and Auditor General reports alleging a scam to the tune of about `2 lakh crores.
With the general elections approaching the BJP upped the ante against the Mamata Banerjee Government demanding a discussion and investigation into the fake job card scam.
Leading the slogan-raising saffron legislators out of the House State Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari said, “the CAG report has mentioned about massive monetary defalcation,” alleging how “this government has resorted to large-scale diversion of funds for the so-called miscellaneous expenses which is unaccounted for.”
Adhikari who on Monday met Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi said, CAG has mentioned in its reports about the financial embezzlements … and now when we are referring to that report they are getting irritated.”
The BJP had earlier cited the CAG report to allege how the TMC Government had presided over “mother of all scams.”
Another BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul said, “we wanted to bring an adjournment motion but the Speaker as bias as he has always been turned down the request forcing us to stage a walk-out … who will raise the issue if the ministers, officers and the ruling party leaders indulge in financial fraud … in Bengal there is no place for the Opposition ... they think they will commit theft at will and we will keep quiet … but that is not going to happen and they will have to answer for their deeds.”
Adhikari once again said on Tuesday that during his meeting with the Finance Minister he had requested her to stop the release of GST funds unless the State Government produced audit reports of previous grants.
“I have demanded an investigation and requested the Finance Minister to first audit and then release the funds because there is no financial discipline … they are running a government not even like a club … they are doing whatever they want … after these are all public money,” he said.
The TMC Government was prompt to react with Bengal Parliament Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay wondering why the BJP was not raising the issue of Rs 7.5 lakh crore scam of the Centre and mentioned in the CAG report.
“They (BJP) are talking about a purported Rs 2 lakh crore scam which is still debatable … but they are not taking up the Rs 7.5 lakh crore scam mentioned in the CAG reports because the BJP’s name will get involved in it … and we have reports how the CAG officials who prepared the reports mentioning their scam are now being victimized and being transferred,” Chattopadhyay said.
Referring to the audit reports Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had however said earlier that the reports were not true and had been “prepared to create a misleading picture … so that they can be used by some people for false propaganda against the state administration before the elections.”
She told the media about her writing a letter to Prime Minister in which she sought his intervention so that the central funds could be released without delay wondering how a “high office” like that of CAG could publish erroneous reports. However in the same breath she announced that “the State Government is capable of paying its workers and will not beg from the Centre for funds … we will start paying the 21 lakh unpaid MNREGA workers their dues from February 21.