In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal’s leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that Mamata Banerjee-led government is taking credit for the project that is actually the brain-child of the Centre. Adhikari claimed that ‘Jal Sapna’ is not a project made with state money. According to the BJP MLA, the project is being run with the money of the central government that is actually allotted for ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’. However, Mamata Banerjee has claimed that the project is her own.
On Thursday, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat called Suvendu and told him that strict action would be taken against the state on the basis of latter’s allegations. Adhikari sent the letter on Wednesday, and Shekhawat called him on Thursday. The Nandigram MLA alleged that the project launched by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee under the name ‘Jal Swapna’ is basically the central government’s ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’.
According to sources, Shekhawat has expressed his displeasure over this allegation. He claimed that the Center would rethink of allocating funds if the if the allegations are proven right. He also said that senior officials of the Ministry of Water and Power will hold talks with the state government to take necessary steps in this regard.
Adhikari mentioned in the letter that the Center has allocated 6,996 crore for the state for that project, but the state is claiming that the money has been given by the central government.
Shuvendu wrote in a tweet, “I have written a letter to the Hon’ble Prime Minister to stop this hypocrisy immediately.” He further mentioned that this is not the first instance where the state government has changed the name of ‘PM Awas Yojana’ to ‘Banglar Awas Yojana’ and the name of ‘PM Gram Sarak Yojana’ to ‘Bangla Gram Sarak Yojana’.