The scheduled inauguration of Sealdah Metro station of the East-West corridor in West Bengal has triggered a bitter war of words between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition BJP.
The ruling party of West Bengal has alleged that the BJP has not invited Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to the railway ministry programme, to be held on July 11.
Taking to Twitter, TMC’s Trinankur Bhattacharjee termed the BJP’s move a “brazen disregard” to Banerjee’s “long fight” for the metro.
“In a Brazen Disregard to@MamataOfficial’s long Fight & Struggle for Sealdah Metro, the @RailMinIndia under the Central Govt didn’t invite her for its inauguration. While @MamataOfficialis doing Politics of UNITY, @BJP4India led Central govt is reduced to doing Petty Politics,” he tweeted.
West Bengal minister and senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim alleged that the Central government had “no regard for democratic principles”.
“The East-West Metro project is being implemented with the mutual cooperation of the state and Centre. The move to leave out the chief minister stemmed from narrow political considerations,” he said.
Hitting back at the TMC, the opposition BJP said that the Banerjee-led government, which “never extends invitation” to saffron camp MPs and MLAs for state programmes, should get to taste its own medicine.
Speaking to reporters, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said, “None of our MLAs and MPs gets invited to any state functions including administrative meetings. The CM, too, should not complain for not getting an invitation.”
Union minister Smriti Irani, who arrived in Kolkata on Sunday, is scheduled to attend the event.
