The relationship between the Congress and the Trinamool — alliance partners at the Centre and in West Bengal — has been strained from the very start. But for the last few days, a spat between Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi and West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra has once again thrown the spotlight on the problems between the two parties, which have differed on several key economic and political legislations at the Centre.
Mr. Singhvi has accused the State government of deliberately “understating and suppressing” Central assistance sent to it. In a sharply worded statement, he alleged that Mr. Mitra had twisted his comments. Indeed, days after Dr. Mitra rejected Mr. Singhvi's claim that the Centre had sanctioned close to Rs.8,000 crore to the State since the latter took office, Mr. Singhvi said in a statement: “Mitra attacked my statement as untrue and doubted my ability to understand economics and deliberately chose to speak of disbursals instead of allocation, which alone I had mentioned.”
Stressing that the facts and figures he had used had been obtained from the Union Finance Ministry, the Congress spokesperson said that “there appears to be a deliberate attempt to understate and suppress Central assistance to Bengal. What may be the reason for this strange attitude is anybody's guess.”
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‘Claims incorrect'
On Sunday, Mr. Singhvi had said the Centre had approved almost Rs.8,000 crore to West Bengal under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF). On Monday, Dr. Mitra, describing Mr. Singhvi's claim as “absolutely incorrect”, said, “I hope he will correct himself.. So far we have not got a single paisa from the Centre as relief package. He [Singhvi] is a good lawyer. I appreciate [his] being a lawyer; he may not understand economics at all.”
Taking on Dr. Mitra, the Congress spokesperson said Rs.6,754 worth of proposals for the State had already been approved by the empowered committee in the Planning Commission, and that between May 20, 2011 and February 6 this year, approximately Rs.23,695 crore had been “disbursed/released by the Centre to the State under various schemes.”
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‘A blanket refutation'
Taking umbrage at Dr. Mitra's statement casting aspersions on his understanding of economics, Mr. Singhvi said: “It may be true that I am not an economist, but that is not important. What is important is than an eminent economist and Finance Minister of the State did not know these figures or did not care to find them out... when he issued a blanket refutation of my comment, saying that not a single paisa has been received.”
“Facts remain sacred whether you are an economist or a lawyer, whether in public life or in chambers of commerce. Nor should politics change them.”