Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Monday claimed that the Election Commission has granted permission to the West Bengal government to pay ex-gratia to the families affected by the storm in Jalpaiguri district on March 31.

He alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee were telling lies to the people that the state government was not able to pay compensation to the families affected by the storm as the model code of conduct was in force and the Election Commission has not given permission for it.

Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, posted in his X handle the ECI letter dated April 9 granting NOC to the state government's proposal to pay ex-gratia to the families affected by the storm.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. The renowned pair of pathological and congenital liars of West Bengal think they can continue lying and the people of WB will accept it as gospel truth. Well, they are living in a fool’s paradise," Adhikari said in his post.

He further stated in the post that the "Election Commission of India, on April 9, granted an exemption for the payment of ex gratia and house building from the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). This message was conveyed to the West Bengal government on the same day. Thus, there is no embargo on the release of funds for Disaster Management & Civil Defence Development, a significant portion of which is provided by the Central Government through the NDRF." At least five people were killed and over 200 were rendered homeless, after a sudden storm and heavy rain wreaked havoc in Jalpaiguri town and its surrounding areas on March 31.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose on April 12 while visiting Jalpaiguri as part of the party delegation had said, "We have come to visit the affected areas of Moynaguri in North Bengal and to see the plight of the people and their sufferings. The party has urged the EC to grant permission to the West Bengal government to rebuild the houses of 1,600 families affected by the storm that struck the region on March 31." TMC spokesperson Shantanu Sen stated that if the BJP had not engaged in vendetta politics, neither dharna nor arrests before the ECI headquarters would have been necessary.

"If it has come earlier such a situation would have not been raised. We have already provided Rs 10,000, and the remainder will be given in two phases from our resources to the storm victims," he said.

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