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Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, whose party is an ally of Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in the INDIA bloc, accused the West Bengal CM of lying about her mic being turned off.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walked out of the NITI Aayog meeting on Saturday, alleging that she was unfairly treated and not allowed to speak for more than five minutes. Banerjee claimed that her mic was turned off and that she was discriminated against compared to other chief ministers who spoke for 10-20 minutes.
However, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, whose party is an ally of Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in the INDIA bloc, accused the West Bengal CM of lying about the incident. Chowdhury suggested that Banerjee had prior knowledge of what would happen at the meeting and had a script prepared.
“The things that Mamata Banerjee is saying regarding the NITI Aayog meeting, I feel like she is lying. It is very surprising if a state’s chief minister wasn’t allowed to speak. Mamata Banerjee knew what would be happening there. She had the script,” Adhir Ranjan said.
The NITI Aayog meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aimed to foster collaborative participation between the Centre and states to improve the quality of life in rural and urban areas. Several opposition chief ministers, including those from the INDIA bloc, boycotted the meeting, criticizing the “biased” Union Budget that allegedly favored the NDA’s allies.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri dismissed Banerjee’s allegations as a “non-national issue”. The Centre also fact-checked her claim about the mic being turned off, though details of their response were not provided.
The incident highlights the ongoing political tensions between the ruling BJP and the opposition INDIA bloc, with Mamata Banerjee’s walkout and subsequent allegations adding fuel to the fire. The differing accounts from Banerjee and Chowdhury suggest that the issue may be more complex than it appears on the surface.
