The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha during the reply of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over its demand for a white paper on MGNREGS, funds for which have been on hold for West Bengal since March 2022.

TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the minister did not mention state-wise allocation of funds and focused only on overall disbursal.

"We are deeply concerned over the pending dues for MGNREGS and Awas Yojana. Abhishek Banerjee had asked for a white paper on it in his speech. The Finance Minister however wanted to concentrate on projects and how much money has been allocated, but never mentioned state wise allocation," Bandyopadhyay said.

"We walked out demanding that white paper should be released on PMAY, MGNREGS, how Bengal is being deprived, and is being economically blockaded. We will keep our protest alive in the coming days," he said.

Slamming Sitharaman, TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said she did not come out with a white paper because she does not have the facts.

"The day I gave my speech in the House I had stated that I could place my facts in the House and the Minister could present counter-facts. A minister should speak on the basis of facts and documents in Lok Sabha. This is why I had asked her to publish a White Paper... Papers don't lie," Banerjee said.

"They are not able to show such a paper in the public domain because they don't have the facts. As of today, they have withheld Rs 1.72 lakh crore from Bengal," he said.

He also mentioned Saturday's NITI Aayog meeting from where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had staged a walkout, alleging that she was not allowed to speak and her microphone was turned off after two minutes.

"Two days ago, our CM went to the NITI Aayog to raise the same issue, where she was the only Opposition CM. She had gone because she may have differences with the BJP but she had to raise the demands of the people," he said.

"We are ready to bow down but not beg for our rights. But she wasn't allowed to speak, whereas CMs of Goa, Andhra, and Assam were allowed to speak for around 20 minutes but the Bengal CM wasn't allowed to go beyond 2 minutes and was interrupted by the bell. This cannot be allowed," he said.

Banerjee said the 12 BJP MPs elected from West Bengal must be asked if they can write a letter to the Union minister demanding a white paper on the funds released to Bengal for Awas and MGNREGA.

In a post on X later, Banerjee again took exception to the finance minister's failure to mention West Bengal in her speech.

"During her budget reply, which lasted over 100 minutes, the Hon'ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made hundreds of false claims, but failed to mention Bengal's deprivation even once.

"The Union Govt claimed in Parliament that no state is being 'denied any money'. But even 138 Days and 3319+ hours later, BJP leadership has failed to provide a White Paper on MGNREGA & Awas Yojana since their 2021 defeat in WB," he said.

"The stress of being on borrowed time is becoming more evident with every such cover-up!" he added.

Earlier in the morning, during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee raised the issue of pending dues for the state.

Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan responded by saying irregularities were reported from the state.

"If someone is misusing a scheme, irregularities are happening, or they are changing the name of the scheme, we will not allow people's funds to be misused," Chouhan said.

According to the Union Rural Development Ministry, release of fund to West Bengal under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has been on hold since March 9, 2022 as per provisions under section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, due to non-compliance with the directions of the central government.

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