Mamata Banerjee, on a two-day sit-in to protest against the Centre on Wednesday, used an outsized prop of a washing machine in which the Bengal chief minister put in black cloth for them to symbolically turn white.

Trinamul Congress party men shouted slogans, like "washing machine BJP" as their leader performed the act of laundering to symbolise her oft-repeated allegation that corrupt leaders were spared when they joined the BJP.

"BJP has become a washing machine. Give me a list of all thieves and robbers - they are all sitting there (with BJP). I have to listen to their sermons about the constitution?" Mamata Banerjee said as she launched a two-day protest sit-in against the BJP-led central government as reported by ndtv.com

"I have every right to hold a dharna. If required, I can sit on a dharna at the PM's house too," she said.

The TMC supremo commenced her sit-in in front of Dr B R Ambedkar's statue on Red Road here earlier in the day to protest against the Centre's alleged "stoppage" of funds to the state for MGNREGA and other schemes of the housing and road departments.

Banerjee, accompanied by senior party leaders Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Subrata Bakshi, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay and Chandrima Bhattacharya, reached the venue around noon.

"I am doing double duty. We have several ministers of the state government here. But unlike the BJP, I am not using my government's funds (to stage this demonstration).

"You can see that we have kept a copy of the Constitution here. So, we must remember that the copy is kept here by those who have respect for it, the democracy and secularism of the nation... From here, I will give a call for 'save India, save democracy'," she said.

The sit-in will continue till 7 pm on Thursday.

Since the CM will not go to the state secretariat 'Nabanna' during the demonstration programme, a temporary office was opened at the venue so that the administrative work is not hampered.

Banerjee had alleged that the Centre has not released funds for the MGNREGA project for the state and other initiatives of its housing and road departments.

"The Centre has stopped releasing funds for MGNREGA and Indira Awas Yojana (Grameen). Besides, it has also stopped scholarships for OBC students," she said on Tuesday while launching a state project to construct 12,000 km of rural roads.

She had also alleged that the "Centre has not released over Rs 7,000 crore, pending under the MGNREGA scheme and has not given work to the state's people despite West Bengal topping the list of states in completing the work under the initiative".

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) is aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year.