Bharatiya Janata Party ,BJP) MLAs staged a walkout from the West Bengal Assembly on Friday while state Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya was presenting the state budget for the fiscal year 2022-’23.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of copying the central government’s schemes and giving them statehood by changing their names, saying there is nothing new for the people in the budget document.
Earlier, BJP MLAs staged a sit-in in the assembly premises against the suspension of two of their MLAs, among other issues.
“The budget is a sham. We listened to the Finance Minister for 20 minutes. Then we decided to protest because we could not stand the blatant lies being spread. ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ (of the Centre) has been changed to ‘Jol Swapno’, ‘PM Kisan’ as ‘Krishak Bandhu’ and ‘PM Awas Yojana’ as ‘Banglar Bari’. The list is endless,” said the official.
He said that the state government is claiming that it bears the entire cost of many welfare schemes but in reality the central government bears half or even more in some cases. “The government is fooling the people of Bengal by presenting such a baseless and ridiculous budget. It did not announce any new plans as there is no major election this year.
Addressing a press conference later in the day, the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Criticized the BJP for holding a walkout during the presentation of the budget. “I have been an MP for seven times. We never interrupted the President’s speech in Parliament. We never protested when the budget was being read. BJP has no other work except stage walkout. They have no experience or ability to work for people. They also insulted our women MLAs.