NEW DELHI: After allegedly being stopped midway in her speech at Niti Aayog meeting , West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday upped the ante against Central government , accusing it of discriminatory practices in allocating time to opposition representatives in a deliberate attempt to malign them.
Meanwhile, Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam dismissed Mamata's claim and clarified that each chief minister was given a designated speaking time, which was displayed on screens at their tables, and that the time allotted to the West Bengal CM had ended.
"The chief minister of West Bengal requested to be given a turn before lunchtime. I'm just putting facts on the ground, no interpretations. It was a clear request from their side because normally we would have gone alphabetically, starting with Andhra Pradesh, then Arunachal Pradesh. We adjusted, and the defence minister called her in just before Gujarat. So, she made her statement," he said.
"Every chief minister is allotted seven minutes, and there's a clock on top of the screen that shows the remaining time. It goes from seven to six to five to four to three. At the end, it shows zero. Nothing else happened. Then she said she would have liked to speak for more time but chose not to. That was it. We all heard her points respectfully, and they will be reflected in the minutes. The Chief Secretary continued to attend the meeting even after she left to catch a flight to Calcutta," Subrahmanyam added.
Centre also rebuffed her claims that the microphone was muted during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of Niti Aayog and called it "misleading."
"The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it," the Centre said.
Upon returning to Kolkata after staging a walkout from the Niti Aayog meeting, Mamata said, "I was the only representative from opposition-ruled states present. They should have given me 30 minutes. At the beginning of the meeting, Rajnath Singh said that everyone should present their views in 5-7 minutes, but I wasn't even given 7 minutes to speak."
"Their representatives were given 20 minutes and received special packages and privileges, while others received zero minutes. I did the right thing by boycotting the meeting. I will not allow them to insult Bengal. I stand strongly with the opposition parties running governments in other states," she added.
"I don't mind if they allocate more funds to some states. I told them that the Centre only gives instructions, and it is the job of the states to carry out the work on the ground. You only gave instructions during the COVID-19 crisis, and it was the states that handled everything. I informed them that they have withheld Rs 1.72 lakh crore of our funds, and this amount is only going to increase this year," the West Bengal CM further said.
This comes after Mamata alleged that her microphone was cut off after five minutes, while other chief ministers from NDA-ruled states were allowed to speak for longer durations.
“This is insulting. I will not attend any further meetings,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said.
"I walked out of the meeting. (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak, and the chief ministers of Assam, Goa, and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes. I was stopped from speaking after just five minutes," Mamata Banerjee said after leaving the meeting of chief ministers chaired by PM Narendra Modi.
"This is unfair. From the opposition side, I was the only one representing here. I attended this meeting with a greater interest in strengthening cooperative federalism," she added.
Meanwhile, Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam dismissed Mamata's claim and clarified that each chief minister was given a designated speaking time, which was displayed on screens at their tables, and that the time allotted to the West Bengal CM had ended.
"The chief minister of West Bengal requested to be given a turn before lunchtime. I'm just putting facts on the ground, no interpretations. It was a clear request from their side because normally we would have gone alphabetically, starting with Andhra Pradesh, then Arunachal Pradesh. We adjusted, and the defence minister called her in just before Gujarat. So, she made her statement," he said.
"Every chief minister is allotted seven minutes, and there's a clock on top of the screen that shows the remaining time. It goes from seven to six to five to four to three. At the end, it shows zero. Nothing else happened. Then she said she would have liked to speak for more time but chose not to. That was it. We all heard her points respectfully, and they will be reflected in the minutes. The Chief Secretary continued to attend the meeting even after she left to catch a flight to Calcutta," Subrahmanyam added.
Centre also rebuffed her claims that the microphone was muted during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of Niti Aayog and called it "misleading."
"The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it," the Centre said.
Upon returning to Kolkata after staging a walkout from the Niti Aayog meeting, Mamata said, "I was the only representative from opposition-ruled states present. They should have given me 30 minutes. At the beginning of the meeting, Rajnath Singh said that everyone should present their views in 5-7 minutes, but I wasn't even given 7 minutes to speak."
"Their representatives were given 20 minutes and received special packages and privileges, while others received zero minutes. I did the right thing by boycotting the meeting. I will not allow them to insult Bengal. I stand strongly with the opposition parties running governments in other states," she added.
"I don't mind if they allocate more funds to some states. I told them that the Centre only gives instructions, and it is the job of the states to carry out the work on the ground. You only gave instructions during the COVID-19 crisis, and it was the states that handled everything. I informed them that they have withheld Rs 1.72 lakh crore of our funds, and this amount is only going to increase this year," the West Bengal CM further said.
This comes after Mamata alleged that her microphone was cut off after five minutes, while other chief ministers from NDA-ruled states were allowed to speak for longer durations.
“This is insulting. I will not attend any further meetings,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said.
"I walked out of the meeting. (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) Chandrababu Naidu was given 20 minutes to speak, and the chief ministers of Assam, Goa, and Chhattisgarh spoke for 10-12 minutes. I was stopped from speaking after just five minutes," Mamata Banerjee said after leaving the meeting of chief ministers chaired by PM Narendra Modi.
"This is unfair. From the opposition side, I was the only one representing here. I attended this meeting with a greater interest in strengthening cooperative federalism," she added.
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