Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, whose indefinite sit-in outside Raj Bhavan here entered its second day on Friday, said the time for the governor avoiding difficult questions is over as the people are demanding their rightful dues of the MNREGS funds withheld by it.
The party will continue with their sit-in till the Governor C V Ananda Bose, who visited the flood-affected areas of north Bengal and left for Delhi on Thursday, meets its delegation, he said.
The opposition BJP said that the sit-in is jeopardising the security of the governor as it is being held within 150 meters of the Raj Bhavan.
Banerjee, who is TMC’s national general secretary, launched the sit-in on Thursday after thousands of party functionaries and its top leaders marched to the British-era edifice in the heart of the metropolis to protest against the alleged withholding of the state’s MGNREGA dues by the Centre.
He remained at the protest site through the intervening night between Thursday and Friday as did hundreds of party workers and held meetings with them.
“I will stay here and won’t move an inch until the governor meets our delegation and answers our questions,” Banerjee said. Since Friday morning thousands of party workers arrived at the protest spot from various parts of the state and expressed their solidarity. Several top TMC leaders too joined in and demanded that the Centre immediately release the dues of the state.
“Our fight for justice and for the poor will continue till the dues are released and the governor comes to meet us,” Bengal Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya said.
Reacting to TMC’s protest, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said, “The security of the governor is being jeopardized for cheap political drama,” Adhikari, who is the leader of opposition in the Bengal Assembly, blamed the ruling party for trying to dismantle the Constitution in the state.
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had staged a two-day sit-in protest in March against the Centre’s alleged withholding of funds for MGNREGS and other welfare schemes.