Naidu slams West Bengal govt for letting funds go waste

Naidu said last year the state government could spend only about Rs 460 crores out of a total allotment of Rs 870.34 crores which comprises only 53 per cent of the allocation. This year, the state government has spent even less and till date has been able to utilise Rs 130.35 crores against an available fund of Rs 524.87 crores from the Rural Development Ministry.

The Union Minister, who was in Calcutta in connection with the completion of one year of the NDA government, remarked that the state BJP unit now faced two challenges – blood and the flood. “There is bloodshed on one hand and there is the flood on the other. The floods are our first priority now. We will take on the threat of bloodshed later,” he said.

Apart from criticising the state government, Naidu threw a few punches at the state Chief Minister for his frequent description of the BJP as “barbaric”, and more recently for describing the Union Cabinet as a “herd of cattle”. “Basu’s choice of adjectives are an indication of the company he keeps,” he said and went on to add, “Basu knows that the end is coming. He is going to witness the fall of the last remains of the Communist Party in India and has, therefore, lost balance.”

It will not be long before the CPI(M) in West Bengal finds it tough to retain even a “regional status as a party”, he maintained. Asked if the relation between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP has soured because of Mamata Banerjee’s demand of rollback of petroleum prices, the Union Minister said that the relation between the two did not depend on a single issue. “There is no question of the BJP losing her. The TMC is firmly with us.”he said. When the Prime Minister has promised Mamata Banerjee that the issue would be reviewed, he would certainly do it, he added.