Lagatar24 Desk
Kolkata: In response to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s claim that her microphone was turned off during a NITI Aayog meeting, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has accused her of lying.
“The things that Mamata Banerjee is saying regarding the NITI Aayog meeting, I feel like she is lying. It is very surprising if a state’s CM wouldn’t be allowed to speak. Mamata Banerjee knew what would be happening there; she had the script,” Chowdhury stated.
Chowdhury’s stance diverges from the official Congress party line, which condemned the alleged treatment of Banerjee as unacceptable. Despite his party’s position, Chowdhury, a vocal critic of Banerjee, expressed skepticism about her claims.
Chowdhury, who lost the recent Lok Sabha election to TMC’s Yusuf Pathan, has consistently criticized Banerjee. Before the elections, he launched several attacks on the West Bengal Chief Minister. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) later blamed Chowdhury for its decision to contest the general elections alone, in which the party won 29 seats in Bengal.
On Saturday, Chowdhury wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, alleging that West Bengal was in an “anarchic condition” and sought her intervention to restore law and order in the state. “I wish to seek your kind intervention in restoring civility and law and order in public life in West Bengal. For me, at a personal level, it is not only disturbing but also deeply anguishing to see the anarchic condition in the state owing to the ruthless approach of the ruling party on the workers, sympathizers, and supporters of the opposition,” Chowdhury wrote.
He also claimed that individuals not affiliated with the ruling party, but inclined towards the opposition, had lost their jobs or means of livelihood due to the ruling party’s strong-arm tactics.
Banerjee alleged that chief ministers from BJP-ruled states were given more time to speak during the NITI Aayog meeting, while her microphone was turned off after five minutes. However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman refuted these allegations.
The Congress party later criticized the NITI Aayog, describing it as a “drumbeater” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi since its inception. “Since it was established ten years ago, NITI Aayog has been an attached office of the PMO and has functioned as a drumbeater for the non-biological PM. Its functioning has been blatantly partisan, and it is anything but professional and independent,” said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
