Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on March 30 said that the entitlements in the State’s ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme will be doubled from April 2024, and dared the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to implement the social welfare scheme in States ruled by the party.
In this year’s budget, the assistance was increased to ₹1,000 from ₹500 for the general category and to ₹1,200 from ₹1,000 for the SC/ST category. The West Bengal government had spent ₹25,000 crore for the scheme to empower women, Mr. Banerjee said.
He dared the BJP to offer the cooking gas cylinders free of cost. “[If the] government issues a notification and promises that they will give cooking gas cylinders free of cost for the next five years, I will take back candidates from the 42 constituencies... This is my open challenge,” he said while addressing a gathering at Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas district.
The Diamond Harbour MP also raised the issue where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a conversation with a BJP Lok Sabha candidate, said that ₹3,000 crore money confiscated during ED raids would be distributed among the people.
“If ₹3,000 crore were to be divided among 140 crore Indians, every person would get Rs 21. The BJP is asking for people’s votes in exchange for only ₹21,” he said.
Mr. Banerjee, who had faced summons from the Central investigation agency in the past, also took a swipe at the investigation agencies. “I have said long back that instead of staying behind the shadows, ED-CBI should enter the poll fray. BJP has not been able to find a candidate for Diamond Harbour; ED and CBI Director should contest from this seat,” he remarked.
Asserting that he would win the Diamond Harbour seat by a margin of over four lakh votes, Mr. Banerjee said, “Despite the presence of Central forces, we (Trinamool) won panchayat polls last year in Bengal. The results will always be the same whichever poll it is despite the BJP’s conspiracy.”
He also accused the BJP of fomenting trouble before the elections in South 24 Parganas district.
