The Trinamul Congress and BJP engaged in a war of words on Monday over the issue of MGNREGA funds with BJP MP Locket Chatterjee accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of doing a "drama" over the issue and asking her to explain the "missing" central funds.
Trinamul Congress leader Saugata Roy said it is not important what BJP says on Banerjee's announcement that MGNREGA workers who have pending payments will be paid by the state government, stating that the money will come from the state's corpus.
"She (Mamata Banerjee) has made it clear she will pay the pending money of three years to all (MGNREGA) job card holders. What the BJP says is not important because they are not giving the money," Roy told reporters outside Parliament.
Banerjee on Saturday announced that her government would transfer funds to the bank accounts of 21 lakh unpaid MGNREGA workers in the state by February 21.
BJP MP Locket Chatterjee called it a "drama"and claimed the West Bengal chief minister is trying to confuse people.
"Rs 4.5 crore of (central) funds are missing from MGNREGA. The state government has been unable to justify that amount. We have asked them to show the places where that money was spent," she said.
"She is doing this to confuse people ahead of the Lok Sabha election. It is a drama," the BJP leader said.
According to the West Bengal government's figures, funds due include Rs 9,330 crore under the PMAY, Rs 6900 crore under MGNREGA, Rs 830 crore under National Health Mission, Rs 770 crore under PM Gram Sadak Yojna, Rs 350 crore under the Swachh Bharat Mission and Rs 175 crore for the Mid Day Meals.
Total dues, including GST compensation, devolution, performance grant and others, is over Rs 1 lakh crore, according to the state government.
Banerjee met Prime Minister Modi on December 20 last year and discussed the issue of pending central funds for her state. After the meeting, the West Bengal CM said PM Modi proposed that officials from state and centre can sit together and clear the issues.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
