Mamata criticises BJP for 'boasting' about new party office

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today slammed the BJP for "boasting" about its new party office in Delhi and said a political party should be humble in its approach. She also wondered where did the funds to build such a huge office come from. "They (BJP) are boasting about inaugurating the world's largest party office. They should be ashamed of it. From where are they getting so much money? A political party should be humble in its approach and should not behave arrogantly," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo told a public meeting here. People did not prefer to see a political party sitting on crores of rupees, she said. With an area of over 1.70 lakh sq.ft, the new BJP headquarters in Delhi was bigger than the office of any other political party in the world, party president Amit Shah had said yesterday. The BJP was quick to hit back at Banerjee, saying it had not built the party office by siphoning off public money in the name of chit funds. "We have built the party office with our own funds. Our ministers did not siphon off public money in the name of chit funds," state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said. West Bengal was rocked by chit fund scams a few years back and the names of certain TMC leaders had also figured in those. Banerjee also accused the BJP-led central government of helping fraudsters swindle public money and alleged that a conspiracy was hatched in this regard ahead of demonetisation in November, 2016. It was "India's misfortune" that it was being ruled by a party like the BJP, she said. Referring to the alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB), the chief minister said, "If you keep money in banks, it will be taken away. If you dig deeper, you will find out that not only PNB, but any other bank is also being looted. Who gave them (fraudsters) protection -- the government has to answer." Alleging that the "big bank fraud" was being planned "from the time of demonetisation", Banerjee said, "What was the central government doing all these days? Instead of giving speeches on television channels and lectures to others, they should act." The BJP-led NDA government had demonetised the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8, 2016 in a bid to curb circulation of black money. Criticising the Centre over the proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, Banerjee claimed that with the help of it, the BJP-led government would take away the depositors' money to bail out banks which were suffering due to huge debts taken by big business houses.