Mamata Banerjee slams PM Narendra Modi after CM virtual meet 

After all the Chief Ministers of India met online to talk about the current price of petrol and COVID issues in the country, Mamata Banerjee slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he was responsible for rising fuel prices. 

 On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual conference with all the chief ministers of the Indian States. During the meeting, Modi advised the states to take precautions against the rising COVID cases in India. Further, PM Modi asked the state governments to reduce VAT on petrol supplies. 

He also mentioned the names of the states, including Maharashtra, Kerala, and West Bengal. He urged these states to reduce the VAT on fuel prices to eventually decrease the petrol prices to some extent. 

However, West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, criticized Modi’s demand to reduce VAT on fuel prices. Mamata Banerjee slammed Narendra Modi, saying that the West Bengal government has spent around ₹ 1500 crores in the last 3 years to subsidise fuel prices. 

Mamata Banerjee said, “Today’s interaction with PM Narendra Modi was completely one-sided and misleading. The facts shared by him were wrong. We have been providing a subsidy of Rs 1 on every litre of petrol and diesel for the last three years. We’ve spent ₹ 1,500 crore on this.” 

Furthermore, she stated that the Chief Ministers were not allowed to counter any statement of the Prime Minister. Thus, no one in the meeting could rectify the facts. “It would have been better had the PM not spoken on the fuel price hike in a COVID-19 review meeting; it was on his agenda,” she said. 

Other ministers react to the meeting discussion. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his video conference, called out other states for various other reasons. These states include Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu. He stated that these states, for some or the other reasons, don’t listen to the central government guidelines. Eventually, the public has to bear the burden of politics. 

Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray, said, “The centre owed Maharashtra ₹26,500 crore.” Thackeray accused the PM of treating Maharashtra like a step-child. Furthermore, Thackeray said that the state is not responsible for the rise in prices of petrol and diesel

The Congress Chief Spokesperson, Randeep Surjewala, also slammed the PM. Above all, he demanded the account of ₹27 lakh crores that the BJP collected through petrol and diesel tax collections.

Published by: Diwakar Kumar

Edited by: Aaradhana Singh