Before Modi-Mamata meet, TMC leaders hopeful of ‘burden waiver’

In what will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Modi assumed the top post in May last year, the state government’s expectations from the Centre to waive the debt — “a burden” — will take the centrestage.

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Significantly, before her meeting with the PM in the afternoon on Monday, Mamata is scheduled to meet all her Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, where once again leader Mukul Roy has not been invited.

Dinesh Trivedi, TMC vice-president and an MP said: “We are now waiting for her instructions. We are hopeful about the meeting between the CM and the PM.”

But what her leaders are not sure about is what would happen if the meeting fails to bring the desired result.

“This is a meeting where we would demand our legitimate right. We are bearing a burden for which we were never responsible. If the meeting with PM fails, the party would decide on the next course of action. But we are not sure on what that would be,” said senior TMC leader and MP, Sougata Roy.

Party’s former general secretary Mukul Roy, who is currently facing a difficult period of his own in TMC, echoed the party’s stand that the state is “justified” in demanding debt waiver. He, however, added that “this meeting should have been held earlier”.

Senior BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh, meanwhile, seems to be offering some perspective on what the meeting’s outcome could be.

“The central government has already given financial assistance to the state and the Bengal government would gain maximum from the 14th Finance Commission. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to maintain a good relation with all the states and save the federal structure. But the Bengal government, too, needs to overcome its victimhood and start collecting more revenue to run the state. If the state is suffering, it is due to its zero manufacturing unit. And it has to accept that.”