West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and party MPs, MLAs and leaders from the districts will pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in New Delhi on his birth anniversary on October 2, a party leader said.

The next day, Banerjee along with her nephew and other leaders will meet Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh and place before him the issue of non-release of longstanding dues under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, party leader Chandrima Bhattacharya said on Saturday.

"We had plans to stage protests in New Delhi for the non-release of NREGA dues to Bengal. But despite several requests to Delhi Police, we were not given permission. But we will go to New Delhi on October 2 and pay our respects to the Father of the Nation. Our supremo Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, all our party MPs, MLAs and panchayat samiti sabhapatis will accompany," Bhattacharya told reporters.

Bhattacharya alleged that Delhi Police, which is controlled by the Union home ministry, did not give them permission to hold the protests.

"Since Delhi Police is under the central government, they did not give us the permission to hold the protests," she said.

"The next day (October 3), led by Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, we will meet Giriraj Singh to discuss the non-release of NREGA dues to Bengal," she said.

Bhattacharya, who is the finance minister of Bengal, said the party on Saturday sent a letter to Singh seeking an appointment.

"We sent a letter seeking his (Giriraj Singh's) appointment. We hope that the Union minister will give us time," she said, adding that while meeting Singh, they will take with them at least 50 lakh letters written by those affected by the non-release of funds.

Earlier in the day, party MP Derek O'Brien wrote to DCP Daryaganj police station requesting permission to set up tents and arrange accommodation and night stay for around 50,000 people at Ram Leela Maidan from September 30 for MGNREGA workers from Bengal who will be staging dharnas at different locations in Delhi.

Incidentally, the TMC chief on September 11 had said her partymen will pray at Rajghat if permission to protest in Delhi on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary is denied.

"How can Delhi Police give permission [for the protest] when they are scared? They are not our enemies but they have to follow political directives. Every person can go to pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi on Gandhi Jayanti. If they deny us permission to protest, our MPs, MLAs, and zilla parishad presidents can go and pray at Rajghat," Banerjee had said.

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