A reply from Union rural development minister Giriraj Singh to Trinamul MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, in response to a request by Bengal’s ruling party to clear pending dues of MGNREGA and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, has triggered a war of words between Trinamul and the BJP.
Singh’s letter stated he had forwarded Trinamul’s plea to the department “concerned” for necessary action, which invited ridicule from Trinamul national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
In a tweet on Friday night, Abhishek said: “This is epic. @girirajsinghbjp forwarding to @girirajsinghbjp. New India Indeed”
“If you are the minister of the concerned dept, who are you forwarding the letter to, Mr Singh?” the Trinamul’s official Twitter handle All India Trinamul Congress asked.
A delegation of Trinamul MPs headed by the Diamond Harbour MP had recently gone to Delhi to meet Singh with their demand that Delhi clear the pending dues of the two central government schemes.
Giriraj Singh. File photo
The Trinamul delegation could not meet Union minister Singh and had to leave a copy of their demand with his secretary after discussing the issue with senior officials of the rural development ministry.
Singh’s letter was a reply to the receipt of the letter from the Trinamul delegation.
“I am in receipt of your joint representation stated 5th April 2023.....for release of pending dues of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna-Gramin schemes to the state government...The said letter has been forwarded to the concerned department for necessary action,” the letter from Singh reads.
However, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari ridiculed Trinamul’s response.
Suvendu tweeted: “Let me elucidate: Hon’ble Minister Shri @girirajsinghbjp Ji is in charge of two Ministeries-@MoRD_GoI and @ mopr_goi. @MoRD-GoI has 2 Depts. The letter was forwarded to the Concerned Dept”
“This is what happens when you wake up from your slumber and attend Parliament sessions once in a blue moon. Absolutely no idea how the Union Ministries andDepartments Function. Remember — You lay yourself open to ridicule when you mock someone by casting ridiculous aspersions,” the tweet added.
Trinamul has been accusing the Narendra Modi government of holding back Rs 1 lakh crore due to Bengal under several central projects, including MGNREGS and the rural housing scheme. The Centre froze funds to Bengal for these, citing prior irregularities in the use of money.
