Mamata to stage dharna over Centre's 'discrimination' against West Bengal

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will stage a two-day sit-in demonstration in Kolkata from Wednesday in protest against the BJP-led Union government's alleged discriminatory attitude towards her state.

She will stage the dharna in front of a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar on Red Road in central Kolkata and continue it till the evening of Thursday.

Banerjee 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 project to construct 12,000 km of rural roads.

Launching the 'Pathashree-Rastashree' scheme ahead of panchayat elections due later this year, Banerjee had said the entire expenditure of Rs 3.75 thousand crores for constructing the rural roads would be borne by the state and not the central government.

"The Centre has not released over Rs 7,000 crores pending under the MGNREGA scheme and has not given work to our people despite West Bengal topping the list of states in completing the work under the initiativeÂ… We believe jealousy or politics may be the reason behind this," she said.

Earlier, she had alleged that West Bengal has not received its due from the Centre and even in this year's budget, there was nothing for the eastern state.

"Hence, in protest against the Centre's discrimination against West Bengal, I, as the chief minister, will stage a sit-in demonstration in front of the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar in Kolkata from March 29 and continue it till the evening of March 30," she added.