Trinamool MPs to meet Chidambaram on financial package for WB

Kolkata, Oct 17: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs of Trinamool Congress would meet Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on October 21 to demand debt restructuring and financial package for

.

"All Trinamool Congress MPs will go to Delhi and meet the Union Finance Minister demanding that West Bengal be given special financial package to deal with its debt-ridden situation," Sudip Bandyopadhyay, leader of the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary party in Lok Sabha, said here.

"We will reiterate our demand for debt restructuring and three-year moratorium on interest payment to the Centre," he said, adding, "We will also question why West Bengal was categorised as a less developed state, though it is hugely debt-ridden."

Claiming that it was a ploy to deny West Bengal of the much-needed Central funds, he said, demands would be made for granting financial assistance to the state, which he claimed has been left high and dry by the previous Left Front government owing to unbridled borrowings.

Mamata: Deeply shocked and anguished over Centre's approach towards State

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had last month said she was "deeply shocked and anguished" at the "discriminatory approach" taken by the Centre towards the state, by accepting the Raghuram Rajan panel report.

The panel had categorised Bengal as "less developed", though it is "No. 1 debt-stressed state", she had said. Criticising the Centre for accepting the report, Mamata had said, "The state will stand to lose more than Rs 4,000 crore of Central funds due to this. It is clear that the central government is acting on political lines. We strongly protest this discriminatory attitude."

"The allocation of Central funds for Bengal will be reduced hugely from 6.93 per cent to 5.50 per cent, directly hitting a lot of developmental projects in the state targeted at the poor and the needy," the Chief Minister had said. "I am happy that some states will be benefited. But, Bengal will stand to suffer significantly despite being the No. 1 debt-stressed state," she said.

PTI