TMC accuses Union minister of ‘deceiving’ party delegation

“We take serious note of the deception that was perpetrated upon us by your PS, leading us to believe that you had departed for Bihar and would not return to Delhi for one week. However, to our utmost surprise, it was discovered the following morning that you had, in fact, been sighted and had not left Delhi. Our Lok Sabha MPs from AITC saw you in the Lok Sabha and confronted you directly on this issue. Sharing misinformation like this was not only unethical but also not expected from the office of a minister,” it said.

The minister’s office did not respond to requests for a comment.

The 25-member delegation, which met Rural Development Secretary Shailesh Kumar Singh after failing to get an appointment with Singh on April 5, was led by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

The delegation had also submitted a memorandum to officials of the ministry asserting that the Centre “cannot withhold the rights of the people by not sanctioning man-days and delaying payments” under MNREGA, particularly after the state government addressing the “minor deviations” on its implementation.

The memorandum also flagged “delays” in allocations of the Central share under PM Awas Yojana (rural), holding up the construction of “11 lakh houses in Bengal”.