Trinamool Congress holds protest at Rajghat demands MGNREGA, other scheme funds

New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) The Trinamool Congress on Monday staged a protest at Rajghat here to demand for the funds from the central government of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and other schemes.

Trinamool Congress General Secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee arrived at Rajghat and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary and then along with the party leaders sat in protest against the Central government.

According to party leaders, the venue of protest at Rajghat was decided after it got the permission to hold a protest there.

The party leaders said that at least 25 party MPs and as many as 20 state ministers will be participating in the protest at Rajghat.

The Trinamool Congress leaders sat on protest at Rajghat with placards reading ‘Release Bengal Funds Now’, ‘Bengal deprived 1 lakh 15 thousand crore families, Rs 15,000 crore owed’.

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had decided to hold a protest in the national capital against the alleged denial of MGNREGA and other housing scheme funds by the central government to the state.

Abhishek Banerjee, who joined the protest in the national capital on Monday has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the school teachers recruitment case.

Abhishek Banerjee has claimed that he would not be honouring the ED notice on this count. “Stop me if you can,” he said wrote on X immediately after receiving the ED notice.

However, on September 29, Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha directed ED that their scheduled investigation process should not be hampered at any cost and for the sake of carrying forward the investigation the central agency will have the liberty to take any step as per legal provisions.

This order by her, as perceived by observers, has put an indirect pressure on ED to act tough in case Banerjee does not appear at ED’s Salt Lake office in Kolkata on Tuesday.