In a first CM Mamata Banerjee to present State's Budget, Oppn threatens to boycott session

On Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will present the state budget. This is the first time in West Bengal that a budget will be presented by a chief minister. Eventually, this is the last budget of TMC (Trinamool Congress) during the second term, before the assembly elections. It is believed that being the last budget many big announcements can be made for the people of the state by the CM.

Usually, Budget is read by the Finance Minister, but due to health issues, State finance minister Amit Mitra will not attend the assembly sessions. Bengal FM Mitra who is currently under medical supervision has urged the West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and speaker of the legislative assembly Biman Banerjee to let chief minister Mamata Banerjee read out the financial statement.

READ | 'BJP's Formula To Win West Bengal Polls Is Inducting TMC Traitors,' Says Mamata Banerjee

On Thursday, Dhankar announced on Twitter that he has authorised Banerjee to perform all duties in the assembly related to the presentation of the annual financial statement for 2021-22 and the motion for the vote on account.

READ | Congress WB LoP Asks Sonia Gandhi To Ally With Cleric's Party; Worried About Minority Vote

Vote on Account

Vote on Account is interim permission granted for seeking sanctions on administrative expenditure — an elaborate financial statement of expenditure and receipts. Though the budget announces a plan for the full year, because of the assembly elections this year, the approval will be sought over the next three months in the form of Vote on Account.

READ | 'BJP's Formula To Win West Bengal Polls Is Inducting TMC Traitors,' Says Mamata Banerjee

Opposition boycotts Session

Meanwhile, the opposition parties Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have decided to boycott the session on Friday as a mark of protest.  Abdul Mannan, Veteran Congress leader and the leader of the Opposition in the assembly said that the ruling party is trying to suppress the opposition. The issues raised by us are not discussed and our questions are not being answered. We are not allowed to speak. 

READ | Manish Tewari Calls For Talks Over Congress' Ideology Amid NSUI's Ram Temple Fund Raising

Political exodus triggers TMC 

In the run-up to the polls, the Trinamool Congress has witnessed a massive political exodus with several of its key leaders and heavyweights jumping ship to the BJP. In the latest, 5 former leaders joined the BJP in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence in Delhi on January 31. Rajib Banerjee, Baishali Dalmiya, Prabir Ghoshal, Rathin Chakraborti, and Rudranil Ghosh who recently left Trinamool, accompanied by BJP leaders Kailash Vijayawargiya and Dilip Ghosh, took a plane to Delhi to get formally inducted after Shah postponed his 2-day visit to West Bengal. After their entry, TMC-turned-BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who was one of the first to incite a rebel within the party, said that by February 28, 'no one will be left in TMC'. The West Bengal Assembly with 294 seats will go to the polls in April-May 2021.

(with ANI inputs)