A number of people representing the Bengal government on Thursday attended a programme in Siliguri where Union minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundations of several road projects here and Raiganj.

Their presence was seen as an attempt by the Mamata Banerjee government to prevent the BJP from taking the entire credit for the major road projects in north Bengal, which the saffron camp claims to be its stronghold.

Minister of state for minority affairs Golam Rabbani, Siliguri mayor Gautam Deb and Sourav Chakraborty, the chairman of the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority, were among the Bengal representatives present at the inaugural.

While Deband Chakraborty shared the dais with the Union minister, Rabbani was in Raiganj. Gadkari inaugurated the Raiganj projects virtually from Siliguri.

“The chief minister and our party had flagged the importance of this road project (a 13km-long four-lane highway in Siliguri) before the Centre many times. The Centre has finally taken it up but the state’s role cannot be undermined. For any road project, the state government plays an important role, right from planning to completion,” said Deb.

After the event, both Deb and Chakraborty, however, accused the BJP government at the Centre of withholding the funds for Bengal.

“The Centre collects taxes under several heads from our state. In a federal structure, the Union government always has a constitutional obligation to work for the development of states. It is, however, denying Bengal grants for several welfare schemes. This is unacceptable,” said Chakraborty.

Rabbani said he had attended the foundation laying programme as the chief minister had instructed him to do so to keep protocol.

“The Union minister is a different person and has a broader vision. He is not like Narendra Modi or Amit Shah and never encourages divisive politics. I had a plan to request him to see that around Rs 1.09 lakh crore, which our state government is yet to receive from the Centre, is disbursed,” said Rabbani.

As Gadkari had fallen ill at the Siliguri event, he cancelled the Raiganj trip and virtually launched the projects in north Dinajpur. Hence, the state minister couldn’t meet Gadkari.

“We will continue to raise the demand for the funds. The Centre can’t simply take away GST and other taxes and deprive the state of grants because of political reasons,” Rabbani said.

Later in the evening, Gadkari left for Nagpur.