With the BJP Government blocking release of MNREGA and other funds pertaining to various social welfare schemes, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that she better be going around to beg from door to door than submitting before New Delhi with a begging bowl.
An apparently emotional Banerjee said, “I have tried to serve you (the people) with best of my capacity and have still been doing so though the Centre has blocked State’s funds,” adding the people not to misconstrue her.
“There have been problems in implementation of projects on account of fund crunch … I will request you not to misunderstand me or my intention to serve you,” Banerjee, a bevy of whose ministerial colleagues and senior party functionaries have landed in jail in connection with a plethora of scams said. Banerjee was speaking at the inaugural function of Dhana Dhanya, a state-of-art auditorium constructed at the cost of `440 crore at plush Alipore in South Kolkata. The auditorium resembles a giganticblue-and-white conch
shell.
Alleging that the Centre had not been releasing funds worth thousands of crores meant for clearing wages under the 100-days’ work scheme, Banerjee said “they (BJP) are thinking that I will go begging before them but I will not … I have reports that they will not release the funds before 2024 (general elections).”