“Drama that Mamata Banerjee did during NITI Aayog meeting is unfortunate”: Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista

Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], July 28 (ANI): Speaking on the matter of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee walking out of the NITI Aayog meeting on July 27, Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista said on Sunday that the drama that Mamata Banerjee did was very unfortunate.

“The drama that Mamata Banerjee did yesterday during NITI Aayog meeting is very unfortunate and because of her behaviour, Bengal suffers a lot. She should have discussed things at the meeting for the development of the state,” Bista said.

He also stated that her main motive was to protest against the Centre and the Niti Aayog and he further said that no CM should behave in such a manner.

“Her main motive was to protest against the central government and NITI Aayog… Bengal is in debt but still, they cannot discuss things at the meeting. This is very unfortunate… No CM should do this kind of behaviour with the Niti Aayog,” he said.

On Saturday, July 27, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee walked out of the Niti Aayog meeting midway, accusing the Centre of “insulting Bengal” by interrupting her speech and making deliberate attempts to “malign the opposition.”

Mamata Banerjee further accused the Centre of favouring BJP-ruled states by providing them privileges and packages and said,”I said whatever I could in the 3 to 4 minutes that I got. In the entire country, the way in which all the opposition-ruled states have been neglected and BJP ruled states and their alliance members have been favoured, we don’t have any objection if any state is given more money but this is not acceptable that someone will get and someone will not get at all.”

However, the central government’s fact-checking body later on Saturday refuted the claims made by the West Bengal CM “misleading”, about her microphone being switched off during the Niti Aayog meeting.

A PIB fact check debunked her allegations, stating that “only the clock showed that her speaking time was over.”

“It is being claimed that the microphone of the CM, West Bengal, was switched off during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog. This claim is misleading. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told ANI on Saturday that it is “completely false” of Mamata Banerjee to claim that her microphone was switched off and that every chief minister at the meeting was “allotted their due time to speak.”

“CM Mamata Banerjee attended the Niti Aayog meeting. We all heard her. Every CM was given the allotted time and that was displayed on the screen, which was present before every table… She said in the media that her mic was put off. That is completely false, ” Sitharaman told ANI.

“Every CM was given their due time to speak… It’s unfortunate that the CM of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, has claimed that her mic was switched off, which is not true… She should speak the truth behind this rather than again build a narrative based on falsehood,” the Union Finance Minister said.

According to the government fact-checking body PIB, Mamata Banerjee’s turn to speak would be only after lunch if one goes alphabetically but she was “accomodated” as the seventh speaker on an official request from the Chief Minister.

“Alphabetically, CM, West Bengal turn would have come after lunch. She was accommodated as the 7th speaker on an official request of the West Bengal government as she had to return early,” PIB Fact Check explained in a subsequent tweet.