Declaring that price rise was a Central government issue, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday criticised the Congress for protesting against her government inside the State Assembly even though her party had aligned with the main opposition party in Parliament.
“I felt bad for the Congress. While my party is helping them fight against the Central government in Parliament, in the state, the Congress is taking the side of the left and BJP to harass my government. The Assembly could not function because of ruckus everyday,” Mamata said on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Congress and the left parties protested inside the Assembly over the rise in prices of essential commodities. Mamata admitted that there was price rise but it was due to faulty policies of the Union government.
“They (opposition) walk out on every matter. Price rise is a Central issue. It has got nothing to do with my state government,” the chief minister said.
She declared she could shut the mouth of the opposition within a minute. “But I will not do that because I am not (former CPI[M] chief minister) Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. I don’t want to show my political might, saying I have two-third majority,” she said.
The CPI(M) lashed out at Mamata for calling price rise a Central subject.
“I think being chief minister she should not mislead the people. It has been mentioned in the constitution which is state subject and which is not,” said Ashok Bhattacharjee, a leader of CPI(M) and MLA.
Meanwhile, the chief minister on Wednesday also publicly responded for the first time against the allegations raised by BJP leader Mukul Roy on West Bengal’s logo controversy. Roy had alleged that the logo, which the state government used, was a private property owned by Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Mamata claimed that she herself created the logo in 2013; the logo was registered with the state government in March 2014, since when it was a public property. “The government could use it till they want,” she argued.
Roy, however, refuted Mamata's claims on the grounds that she was talking about who owned the logo before it was handed over to the state government. “Why was it initially registered in the name of Abhishek Banerjee?” Roy asked.
The mater is currently in court as Abhishek lodged a defamation case against Roy.
