Centre-state relations issue to be taken at National Development Council: PM Manmohan Singh to Left

KOLKATA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured a Left Front delegation that he would take up the issue of giving a fresh look at Centre-state relations and more funds to states at the meeting of the National Development Council.

"The Prime Minister has assured us that he will discuss the two issues (Centre-state relations and more funds to the states) at the next NDC meeting," Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, who headed a six-member Left Front delegation, told reporters after meeting the prime minister.

The delegation, he said, discussed with the Prime Minister how the Left parties could cooperate with the state government for the overall development of West Bengal.

"We expressed our keenness though our earlier requests for cooperation to those in power now (Trinamool Congress) and did not find any response. We tried to impress upon the PM that being in the opposition bench we are ready to fully cooperate with the state government in realising the just demands of the state from the Centre," he said, adding the prime minister gave the delegates a patient hearing.

Mishra claimed that as opposition leader in the house, he had repeatedly asked Finance Minister Amit Mitra to initiate a joint move to realise the legitimate demands of the state from the Centre.