Kolkata: Legislators and leaders of the state BJP attempted to undermine the initiatives taken by the Mamata Banerjee government in north Bengal. Led by Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, they slammed the state government for being biased against north Bengal - a region with eight districts and a population of around 35 million - over development.
The BJP leaders reached the New Jalpaiguri railway station at a time when chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached Kanchenjungha Stadium here for an event. The venues are around 5 km apart.
“The chief minister was here for a leisure trip. She attended a family wedding and did some photo ops. She is irked with north Bengal as people of this region have voted the BJP. Now, she is trying to revive her party’s support base in the seven parliamentary seats which we have won. At the budget, allocations were elaborately made for the north Bengal development department in each fiscal but the actual release is far below,” said Adhikari.
He, along with the MLAs, also met with a group of people who had reached the venue. “It is a government that ignores elected representatives of other parties. Today, despite a government function being held here, not a single MLA of BJP from the district and even the MP were invited. This doesn’t happen even when the Prime Minister attends any official event,” he said.
Adhikari, also the Nandigram BJP MLA, alleged corruption in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.
“There had been corruption in recruitment. We will soon launch a movement across the hills on the issue,” he said.