Why is West Bengal being 'singulary deprived'?, asks Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: Questioning why West Bengal was being 'singularly deprived', Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today alleged political discrimination against the state by the Centre, a day after it approved a Rs 12,000 crore special package for Bihar.

"Very recently, few states have been granted thousands of crore of rupees by the Central Government. It is very good. We support that all states must get financial help," Banerjee said in a Facebook post.

"But let us know why West Bengal is being singularly deprived? Is it a political vendetta, guided by narrow politics?" she questioned.

"Is it not undemocratic and unethical to provide fund to those states which suit Centre's politics?" she asked.

The special package approved by the Union Cabinet yesterday was widely seen as part of the Centre's efforts to reach out to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar amidst indications of severance of ties between JD(U) and BJP.

The chief minister said that the 12th Finance Commission had identified the state as one of the most debt-stressed and none other had such a huge debt of Rs 2 lakh crore thrust on it by a previous government.

However, she said, "We always hold our head high and mind without fear".

She maintained that the Centre permitted the previous state government to continue borrowing without introducing the FRBM Act which totally "destroyed" the fabric of the state.

"All we want is not to stand before the Central Government with a begging bowl. We want justice. We want a transparent debt-restructuring plan so that we can invest crores of revenue earned by us be spent for infrastructure development," Banerjee said.

She also claimed that instead of providing financial help to the state, the Cente was taking away Rs 25,000 crore annually to meet interest and repayment for debt.