LS polls in 3 months, will take over rlwy ministry: Mamata

Kolkata, March 8: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that the Lok Sabha election would be held within three months and after the results are out, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) would take over the railway ministry again and complete all the pending work. Speaking at a programme organised on the occasion of International Women's Day here, she said her government had done a lot of good work for the state, including making reservation for women in the panchayats.

The TMC had three successive railway ministers in party chief Mamata Banerjee, Dinesh Trivedi and Mukul Roy in the UPA II government before it pulled out from the government in September last year. TMC sources accused the Congress-led UPA of ignoring West Bengal's interests in this year's rail budget.

Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a leader known to be a strong critic of Banerjee, said the latter had made a lot of empty promises during her days as the railway minister including to the people of Singur from where the Tatas had removed their Nano car factory in 2008. Banerjee had promised to set up a railway factory in the site of the abandoned factory.

Opposition leader of West Bengal Surjya Kanta Mishra and other state Left leaders mocked the CM for her comments.

Banerjee also slammed the Congress-led UPA central government for taking away bulk revenue from the state. "In Bengal, annual revenue stands at Rs 21,000 crore, while a total of Rs 26,000 crore goes out to the central exchequer from the state's coffers," she said.

The chief minister said her government was working for the people despite the severe cash crunch conditions.

She also slammed the Centre for raising fuel and fertiliser prices.

OneIndia News

(With IANS inputs0