Parties say nothing wrong in invoking Bengali pride but dub Mamata Banerjee’s populist proposals ‘manifesto’ for Bengal assembly election.
Railway ministers are known to favour their home states and Mamata Banerjee is no exception. She, in fact, excels in it.
In her previous two essays, she had allocated more than 120 projects to West Bengal. On Friday, as she presented her third and possibly last rail budget, Mamata gave such a saturation dose of goodies to her home state that even her arch political rival —CPM — had to acknowledge her positive spirit.
“There is nothing wrong in invoking Bengali pride,” CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said.
This appreciation, however, came with a sharp barb. “In a reflection of the compulsions of coalition politics, the prime minister has allowed the unthinkable to happen. By entrusting the portfolio to Banerjee he has allowed a robust organisation, such as Indian Railways, to become bankrupt and a losing proposition,” he said.
Yechury argued that the economy was growing at more than 8.6%, but the growth rate of railways was only 3.8%.
BJP dubbed the budget Mamata’s “manifesto” for West Bengal assembly polls. “The entire focus is on West Bengal, the rest of India has been totally neglected,” party general secretary Ananth Kumar said.
CPI national secretary D Raja said the budget did not have anything spectacular. “It seems to be more ambitious than reality. Nobody is happy with the budget. She has not announced any provisions for ongoing projects,” he said.
Mamata countered: “They [CPM and CPI] must look at themselves first. They should first answer why they have allowed the state of West Bengal to slide into bankruptcy with a debt of more than Rs2 lakh crore.”
The railway minister has not only allotted a large chunk of new projects to her home state, but has also come up with an idea to ensure her successors do not wind up the projects. “We shall launch Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana, so that all projects of the 11th five-year plan can be clubbed for the 12th five-year plan. The funds shall be non-lapsable,” she said. —With PTI inputs
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