Gujarat will never rule Bengal: Mamata

Kolkata, Feb 09: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the Centre calling it "a cruel government" for its meagre advance to the state after Cyclone Amphan and said "Gujarat will never be able to rule Bengal".

Speaking on the concluding day of the last session of the 16th West Bengal assembly, Banerjee also took on the Opposition for criticising the vote-on-account presented by her and saying it was done with an eye on the coming state polls.

The fiesty Trinamool Congress supremo, who was speaking at the debate on the Rs 2.99 lakh crore vote-on- account, said even if it was so it was done for the welfare of the people and claimed that her party would return to power in the state in the coming assembly poll.

"Even if it (the vote-on-account) is what the opposition is saying, where is the problem? It is for the welfare of the people. Some are saying we are there for a few days. We will be back with a huge mandate", she asserted.

To Prime Minister Narendra Modi''s criticism of her government during his visit to the state on Sunday, Banerjee lashed out saying she has never seen such a "cruel" government as the one headed by him at the Centre.

"Now that the poll is round the corner in West Bengal, it seems that there is nothing else for BJP but Bengal. In this election all its leaders and ministers are coming to places in the state of which they do not even know.

"Gujarat will never be able to rule Bengal," she said in an apparent reference to the visit of Modi and those by Amit Shah, who is scheduled to be in the state later this week.

Criticising the BJP-led government at the Centre, she said the prime minister during his visit to the state after the devastating cyclone Amphan had announced a mere Rs 1000 crore.

"That money too was given as advance. I have never seen such a cruel government. We had to spend more than Rs 2542 crore over and above the last budget to meet the situation due to Cylone Amphan and COVID-19," she said and presented a supplementary budget on it.

On opposition''s allegations of mass corruption in the distribution of relief post-Amphan, she conceded that there may have been some errors but they were corrected.

Banerjee said she will inaugurate a total 19 projects in the state on Monday and Tuesday at an investment of Rs 72200 crore and create employment oppurtunity for 3.2 lakh people.

The session concluded after passing the vote-on- account, which was presented on February 5, and the supplemenatry budget.

Banerjee took part in the photo session of the House, which was boycotted by the opposition BJP, Left and Congress members. Assembly employees took part in it.