Mamata starts dharna to protest Centre's 'discrimination' against Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday started her two-day sit-in demonstration in Kolkata to protest the BJP-led Union government's alleged discriminatory attitude against the state.

Banerjee, accompanied by senior party leaders Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Subrata Bakshi and Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, reached the venue in front of Dr B R Ambedkar's statue on Red Road around noon and started her protest against the Centre's alleged stoppage of funds to the state for MGNREGA and other schemes of the housing and road departments.

The sit-in demonstration will continue till Thursday evening.

"The Centre has stopped releasing funds for MGNREGA and Indira Awas Yojana (Grameen). Besides, it has also stopped scholarships for OBC students," she said on Tuesday, while launching a project to construct 12,000 km of rural roads.

She alleged that the Centre has not released over Rs 7,000 crores pending under MGNREGA despite West Bengal topping the list of states in completing the work under the initiative.

Earlier, she had alleged that West Bengal had not received its due from the Centre and even in this year's budget, there was nothing for the eastern state.

"Hence, in protest against the Centre's discrimination against West Bengal, I, as the chief minister, will stage a sit-in demonstration in front of the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar in Kolkata from March 29 and continue it till the evening of March 30," she had said.