Centre will help within constitutional limits: PM tells Mamata

Kolkata, Aug 22: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to help the state "within the constitutional limits" to rebuild its economy, so that it regains the glory evident during the tenure of late chief minister B C Roy.

"The Prime Minister assured Mamata Banerjee who led a Trinamool Congress delegation that the Centre would provide all help within the constitutional limits so that Bengal could regain its past glory," party leader and Union Minister Saugata Roy told reporters after a 26-member delegation met Singh at Raj Bhavan.

"We told the Prime Minister that during the 34 years of Left Front rule, West Bengal's infrastructure has been ruined and without the Centre's help, it was not possible to rebuild the state," Roy said.

"We are trying to rebuild the state's economy which was in ruins," party sources quoted Banerjee as telling Singh.

"The Prime Minister congratulated Mamata Banerjee for her election victory and said that under her leadership the (political) change had come to West Bengal. He said it was possible for Bengal to regain its past glory under Mamata as chief minister," Roy said.

He quoted the Prime Minister as telling the delegation that Bengal occupied a pride of place in the country when B C Roy was chief minister between 1948 and 1962.

The Trinamool delegation which included all central ministers from the party, state ministers and party MPs submitted a memorandum to the PM on the state's issues.

PTI