Amid the tussle between the Centre and Trinamool Congress over the release of West Bengal's MGNREGA dues, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said that the government never deprived West Bengal of MGNREGA funds and alleged that there are discrepancies in the utilisation of funds in state's districts. "We never deprived Bengal of MGNREGA funds, statistics of last nine years prove that," Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said, as quoted by the news agency PTI. She further said, "There are discrepancies in utilisation of MGNREGA funds in Bengal districts."
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti's remarks came as the indefinite sit-in demonstration outside Raj Bhavan by TMC activists led by senior leader Abhishek Banerjee entered the third day, with protesters asserting their stir will continue till Governor C V Ananda Bose meets them at the protest site, even as a team of agitators will call on him in Darjeeling on Saturday.
Speaking in Kolkata, Jyoti said that the government is ready for talks with TMC on MGNREGA dues, have been waiting for them. Bose has agreed to meet the delegation in Darjeeling's Gubernatorial Mansion at 5.30 pm after receiving an email request from TMC leader Derek O'Brien, PTI reported, citing Raj Bhavan sources.
The governor's decision to meet the delegation comes in the wake of the TMC sit-in led by Banerjee demanding the release of West Bengal's MGNREGA dues by the Centre and demanding an audience with Bose. Banerjee, the TMC national general secretary, however, said that the stir will continue till Bose meets the agitators at the protest site outside the Raj Bhavan.
Banerjee said the TMC's three-member delegation would consist of state Panchayat Minister Pradip Mazumdar and Lok Sabha MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra.
The TMC national general secretary started the sit-in protest on Thursday after a large number of party members and senior leaders marched to the historic British-era building to protest the alleged withholding of West Bengal's MGNREGA dues by the Centre. He has remained at the protest site through the last two nights as did hundreds of party workers and held meetings with them. The governor is in north Bengal to take stock of the flood situation there.