Mamata asks Parliamentary Secretaries to counter oppn attack

West Bengal Cheif Minister Mamata Banerjee today asked Parliamentary Secretaries to counter the attacks by opposition political parties and help in speeding up development work.
Parliamentary Secretaries, including the 11 new ones, were asked to counter opposition parties which, Banerjee said, were spreading canards against the state government ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections, according to state secretariat sources.
They were also asked to devote more time in districts to speed up and monitor development projects.
The meeting was convened by the chief minister. It was attended by Finance and Industry minister Amit Mitra and Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee.

After the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, the state assembly passed a bill amidst Opposition protests to create posts of Parliamentary Secretaries to advise ministers, borrowing the idea from states such as Punjab, Haryana and Assam.