After Mamata agrees to implement PM Kisan scheme, BJP promises to pay farmers arrears

BJP national generalsecretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Friday said that the saffronparty, after voted to power in West Bengal, will ensure thateach farmer of the state will get Rs 18,000 in arrears underthe PM Kisan scheme.

The assertion of Vijayvargiya, the BJP's West Bengalin-charge, came days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeagreed to implement the central scheme in the state, underwhich farmers get Rs 6,000 a year in three equal instalments.

The decision of the Trinamool Congress supremo, takenmonths before the assembly election, is being seen as a moveto blunt the BJP's accusation that her party is preventingfarmers of the state from getting benefits of the scheme.

''Farmers of Bengal will get their due after the MamataBanerjee government goes and the BJP government comes topower,'' Vijayvargiya said, while addressing a party rally atNandigram in Purba Medinipur district.

They will be paid Rs 18,000 each in arrears, theamount which has already been transferred to the bank accountsof farmers in the rest of the country, he said.

The mafia controls coal and sand mining in the stateand indulges in cattle smuggling, he alleged, asserting thatthose involved in such rackets will be driven out of the stateby the BJP.

Describing the TMC as a virus, the BJP's West Bengalpresident Dilip Ghosh who also addressed the rally, said thathis own party is its vaccine which will make the ruling partyleave the state after May.

The assembly election in the state is due in April-May.

Claiming that the BJP already has 1.5 crore members inWest Bengal, Ghosh said that nearly 29,000 cases have beenfiled against BJP workers in the state to intimidate them.

''The previous Left Front and the current TMCdispensation failed to deliver. The BJP will ensure that thestate marches ahead in the path of development,'' he said.

Ghosh alleged that the money meant for relief aftercyclone Amphan has been looted and misappropriated by TMCworkers and leaders.

''The parivartan (change) people had hoped for afterthe TMC came to power proved a mirage and now there's the needfor another parivartan,'' he said.

Ministers and leaders of the TMC are leaving the partyas they are not getting due respect and position, the BJPstate president claimed.

''Mamata Banerjee is now accusing us of breaking herparty. What had she done to other parties earlier in thestate?'' he asked, claiming that the TMC had made several MLAsof the Congress and Left parties join the party.

Holding that the anti-land acquisition movement of theTMC at Singur, which led to the shifting of Tata Motors' Nanocar plant to Gujarat, was ''wrong'', BJP national vice presidentMukul Roy said that West Bengal did not get any industry sincethe company was forced to leave.

''If we win the elections, we will urge the primeminister to get the Tatas back in Singur for the sake ofrejuvenation of industry in the state,'' said Roy who was inthe TMC during the movement at Singur.

He, however, said that Nandigram agitation was adifferent issue since the Left Front government had forciblytaken away land from poor farmers, and Suvendu Adhikari ledthat movement of the people.

Adhikari, who recently resigned as the TMC MLA ofNandigram and joined the BJP, alleged that stones were thrownduring the meeting to create chaos and disturbance.

''Even the CPI(M) during its rule had not done any suchthing when the TMC held meetings,'' Adhikari said.

He thanked BJP leaders L K Advani, Rajnath Singh andthe late Sushma Swaraj for their support to the Nandigrammovement in 2007 against the Left Front governments move toacquire farmlands for setting up a special economic zone(SEZ).