The opposition Left Front and Congress today said the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a sign of political desperation of the TMC to save party leaders embroiled in Narada and Saradha scams.
Banerjee today met Modi in New Delhi seeking early release of funds to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore, which is due to the state under various centrally sponsored schemes.
"We know that political desperation of Mamata Banerjee to save her party leaders from the CBI investigation in Narada sting operation and Saradha chit fund scam, has led to this meeting. The protest against BJP has fallen flat after the CBI investigation started and the meeting is nothing but an attempt to fix it," Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly and Congress leader Abdul Mannan said.
Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty also mocked the meeting and termed it as a "political setting".
"I think it was not a meeting, but a political setting between the two. We have seen the same political screenplay earlier also. This is nothing new to us," Chakraborty said.
Banerjee has been one of the most vocal critics of Modi and led the opposition's onslaught on the issue of demonetisation. She has also accused the Centre of pursuing vendetta politics after two of her MPs were arrested earlier this year for their alleged involvement in the chit fund scam.
The TMC and BJP, however, rubbished the opposition's allegations and said it was purely an example of Centre-state relations in a federal structure.
"It has nothing to do with the Saradha and Narada investigations. In a federal structure every chief minister has the right to meet the Prime Minister. It is a political game plan of the Congress and the Left to malign us," a senior BJP leader said.
"The Congress and Left can say whatever they want to. Our CM met the Prime Minister with demands for our debt-ridden state. It is the Left, which is responsible for this financial crisis," a senior TMC leader said.
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