TMC to stage protests against Centre's decision to withhold funds to Bengal

The Trinamool Congress on Friday said it has decided to hold a two-day sit-in agitation across the state beginning March 29 against the BJP-led Central governments decision to withhold funds for various schemes.Party supremo Mamata Banerjee will leading the charge from the front by joining a dharna in Kolkata.

The Trinamool Congress on Friday said it has decided to hold a two-day sit-in agitation across the state beginning March 29 against the BJP-led Central government's decision to withhold funds for various schemes.

Party supremo Mamata Banerjee will leading the charge from the front by joining a dharna in Kolkata. Earlier this week, Banerjee announced that she will stage a sit-in demonstration under the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar in Kolkata from March 29 and continue it till the evening of March 30 against the Centre's discrimination towards Bengal.

''Our leader Mamata Banerjee will hold a two-day sit-in agitation beginning March 29 before the Ambedkar Statue in Kolkata to protest against the BJP-led Central government's decision to withhold funds under various heads. The decision reeks of political vendetta,'' senior TMC Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said.

''Following in her footsteps, Trinamool workers will also hold protests across all blocks in the state to apprise people of the Centre's step-motherly attitude towards Bengal,'' she said. Bhattacharya said TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will also lead the protests by the students and youth wing of the party on March 29.

''Despite the Centre's political vendetta'', Bhattacharya said the Mamata Banerjee government ''had not imposed any additional tax on the people and has instead brought people-centric schemes.'' ''The Rastashree scheme – announced during this year's budget only a few weeks ago – will be inaugurated on March 28, under which the state government will build around 12,000 km of rural roads for better connectivity,'' she said at a press conference after the party's internal meeting.

Banerjee on Friday held a closed-door meeting with the district leadership of Birbhum. The party's district president Anubrata Mondal, is currently in Tihar Jail after being arrested last year by the Enforcement Directorate, for his alleged involvement in a cattle smuggling case. During the meeting, Banerjee formed a committee comprising senior party leader Firhad Hakim, Moloy Ghatak and Pandabeshwar MLA Narendranath Chakraborty which has been asked to coordinate with the district core committee for the functioning of the district unit in the absence of Mondal during the upcoming rural polls campaign.

''Our party supremo has urged everyone to keep aside their differences and work as one unit against and ensure that the party emerge victorious in the rural polls in the district,'' a senior TMC leader present in the meeting said.

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