A defiant Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the ruling Trinamul Congress, on Saturday virtually threw a challenge to the Union government to stop the TMC’s programme in the national capital on 2-3 October, where a massive gathering of MGNREGA beneficiaries from the state is planned to demand the release of pending funds under the scheme for the state.

Mr Banerjee has already made it clear that he would not respond to a summons from the Enforcement Directorate to appear before its investigating officers on 3 October, but attend the rally in Delhi on that day.

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Cheering on Trinamul Congress supporters who left for Delhi from a bus depot in central Kolkata on Saturday, Mr Banerjee continued his tirade against the Centre in
a virtual address today with resilience and aggression, as he vowed to force the Centre into releasing the outstanding dues for the state.

Mr Banerjee slammed the ruling dispensation at the Centre for creating hurdles for the Trinamul Congress’ planned rally in Delhi by denying permission for hold- ing a gathering at the chosen location, withholding trains and letting loose the ED and CBI repeatedly.
He vowed that nothing would deter Trinamul Congress from realising the state’s dues that the Centre had put on hold for a long time.

Mr Banerjee said: “This (the Delhi rally) will usher in a new dawn and the stir will continue till we realise our dues.” He went on to add that people had begun to speak up against the Centre’s continued deprivation and repression, “ We have sought permission to hold demonstra- tion peacefully and democratically at Rajghat, Ramlila Maidan but no permission was granted. But despite that it has failed to dampen our spirit to march on and our resolve to realise our goal,” the Trinamul MP said.

He also said that the Centre was withholding West Bengal’s dues deliberately. About 50 central teams had visited Bengal to look into any flaws and irregularities in disbursal of central funds under various schemes by the state but 11 months had gone by but no steps had been taken to release the dues.

The proposed protest would be held on 2and3 October in Delhi for which the party had managed to assemble about 3,000 people from rural areas who were to be taken to Delhi by train, said the TMC MP.

But with rakes being refused by the Railways, as alleged by Trinamul Congress, at the last moment, around 50 volvo buses had been arranged to ferry the 3,000 people to Delhi.
The protesters who assembled in the city coming from rural areas had been put up at the Netaji Indoor stadium before embarking for Delhi.