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Centre not helping West Bengal: Buddhadeb

October 10, 2010 21:23 IST

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on Sunday said that his government was not getting funds from the Centre for the development of the state and accused opposition Trinamool Congress of blocking development efforts.

The chief minister said he had held meetings with the Central government many times on the requirement of funds, but there was no result.

"I have even told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that inflation has increased and therefore the state needs funds. But nothing has happened yet," Bhattacharjee told a rally at Andal in Burdwan district.

Taking a dig at Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Bhattacharya alleged that the opposition was trying to disrupt development in the state.

"We are trying to bring about development in the state. But Trinamool creates trouble everywhere. They are disrupting development by protesting on some issue or the other. They are stopping us from developing the state," he said.

Giving the example of Singur, Bhattacharya said if the Nano factory had taken shape there, it would have opened the floodgates of new industry in the district.

He also referred to Katwa in Burdwan district where construction of a power plant had been consistently opposed by the Trinamool Congress.

He, however, saw a silver lining in the scheduled reopening of the MAMC factory in Durgapur next December after lying closed for many years and fresh investment in the Durgapur Steel Plant.

Similarly, he foresaw heightened industrial activity at Panagarh and Andal where the aerotropolis project is coming up.

On Mamata Banerjee's recent allegations that the CPI-M was trying to kill her, the chief minister called it a pack of lies. "She has said it many times that we are trying to kill her. By saying so, she is playing the politics of lies. She keeps lying."

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