West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday threatened to stage a demonstration in Delhi if the centre did not re-structure the state government's loan repayment schedule.
Making a "last appeal" to the central government to "stop deducting all the money" and "re-structure the repayment of loans", the chief minister said: "If you don't do that, then forget that I am a chief minister. I am a commoner, I will go to Delhi and I will demonstrate."
Banerjee said she did not believe in protocol. "The only protocol I abide by is that of the masses. Remember, I have not come to take salute by sitting in an air-conditioned office. I have come to take salute of the masses."
"If you deduct all the money from my government, there will be protests," she said while addressing the Trinamool Congress' extended general council meeting.
Reminding the centre about the federal structure of the constitution, she said "just as you preside over the central government, similarly, we preside over the state government. Do you think we will be silent observers if you take all the money from us?"
Banerjee alleged that the prime minister failed to keep his promise to help the Trinamool Congress government.
Accusing the central government of launching a vendetta against the state due to political reasons, she said "Why are you depriving us? Is that because you are unable to compete with us politically?"
West Bengal owes the centre a whopping Rs.2 lakh crore. Banerjee had once claimed that
servicing the debt alone costs Rs.2,600 crore.
