West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday raised the issue of slump in the Adani Group shares and alleged that calls were made to bail them out.
“The Central government was almost about to collapse yesterday, because there was a slide in the share market. Calls were made to some to bail them out. I do not want to cause more embarrassment by naming them… Is this how a government runs,” Ms. Banerjee said addressing a public meeting in Purba Bardhaman on Thursday.
Though the Chief Minister targeted the Centre, she did not directly name the proprietor of the Adani Group, Gautam Adani. Earlier in October 2022, the West Bengal government handed over the Letter of Award for the development of a deep-sea port at Tajpur in the State to Adani Ports. Mr. Adani was among the businessmen who participated in the Bengal Global Business Summit in April 2022.
During her address in Purba Bardhaman, Ms. Banerjee also alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was using people’s money deposited with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and nationalised banks to benefit some of its party leaders.
“If this government continues, banks will be shut down in the near future. They will remove Life Insurance. The way in which LIC shares are being misused, it is criminal,” Ms. Banerjee said.
MGNREGA allocation
She continued with her criticism of the Union Budget for the financial year 2023-24 and raised questions why the provisions for MGNREGA have been reduced by ₹60,000 crore.
“The Centre has allocated ₹60,000 crore for the scheme, lower than the budgetary estimate of ₹73,000 crore for 2022-23. This is the lowest amount ever that has been allocated for the scheme,” Ms. Banerjee said.
The Trinamool Congress chairperson had earlier described the Budget as “opportunist” aimed at 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Ms. Banerjee also claimed that the Union Finance Minister did not have a word about jobs during the Budget speech. “I will ask the people to not beg for jobs outside Bengal. Yesterday, the Centre presented the Union Budget 2023-24, where not a single word was mentioned about the unemployment issue in India,” the Chief Minister said.
