New Delhi: The running battle between Congress and Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government intensified on Wednesday with the AICC declaring that the Centre has released Rs 23,695 crore to the state, dismissing as a "complete error" state Finance Minister Amit Mitra's statement that not a paisa has been received.
Besides, Rs 6754 crore worth of proposals from West Bengal stand approved by the Empowered Committee in the Planning Commission, party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said in a statement quoting facts and figures obtained from Union Finance Ministry.
"From May 20, 2011, to February 6, 2012, alone, since Dr Mitra became Finance Minister, approximately Rs 23,695 crore has been disbursed/released by the Centre to West Bengal", he said.
The facts and figures "demonstrate not only the complete error of West Bengal Finance Minister's statement but also show that there appears to be a deliberate attempt to understate and suppress central assistance to West Bengal. What may be the reason for this strange attitude is anybody's guess," he said.
The reference was apparently to the strained relations between the two parties, sharing power in the state and at the Centre, on a variety of issues, including FDI in retail, Lokpal Bill and Teesta water-sharing.
Singhvi recalled that the state Finance Minister had dubbed as "untrue" his statement earlier this week that the Centre had approved assistance of about Rs 8750 crores to the state. "I had talked only about allocation/approvals, not disbursals."
"It is true that I am not an economist but that is not important. What is important is that an eminent economist and Finance Minister of WB did not know these figures or did not care to find them out or did not want to talk about them when he issued a blanket refutation of my comment, saying that not a paisa had been received by him from the central government", Singhvi said.
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