CPI-M picks holes in Mamata's claims

The CPI-M today hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for making "false claim" about her role in the expansion of the railway network in Tripura.
CPI-M central committee member Bijan Dhar said the Trinamool Congress chief's claim during her visit to the state on August 9 that she had cleared the expansion of the railway broad gauge line when she was the Railway minister, was not right.
"Banerjee had no role in the expansion of railways in the state. She rather delayed the project for two years during her stint. Railway came to Tripura due to the struggle of the Left parties and all the projects had been cleared when non-Congress governments were in power at the Centre," Dhar, also the party's state secretary, said.

"We challenge her to prove her claims," Dhar said.
On Banerjee's claim of introducing the scheme of distribution of rice in West Bengal at a flat rate of Rs two, Dhar said that the scheme had been introduced in some areas of West Bengal when Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was the chief minister.
Later, the central government incorporated the scheme under the Food Security Act, he said adding that the same scheme had been introduced in Tripura in 2015.
He said that Tripura was an example of good governance in the country as it introduced social schemes for the poor jointly sponsored by the Centre and the state government.

The state government on its own sponsored 25 other schemes benefiting 312,000 people.