Adhikari claims TMC govt fudging figures to claim rural job creation in Bengal

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 7 (ANI): West Bengal's Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday wrote to Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh alleging that the Trinamool Congress government fudged data to falsely claim employment generation in the rural parts of the state.

Accusing the Mamata Banerjee government of resorting to 'fake' data creation to claim misleading job figures, the BJP leader urged the central government to order a probe by the CBI or any other central investigating agency in the matter.

The letter assumes significance with the state panchayat elections just around the corner and the Mamata government under fire from the Opposition parties over an alleged teacher recruitment scam and the arrests of ministers and several high-profile leaders on charges of corruption and money laundering.

Expelled Trinamool leader and former state education minister Partha Chatterjee is in jail in connection with the recovery of cash, linked allegedly to the teacher recruitment scam, from his acquaintance Arpita Mukherjee's flat in Kolkata. Trinamool MLA Manik Bhattacharya is also behind bars in connection with the case.

Further, the party's Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal was also arrested and is facing a probe by central agencies for alleged cattle smuggling.

"I am writing this letter to you as the West Bengal government is engaging in a novel malicious practice in order to befool the people of Bengal, especially those living in the rural areas. This time the issue is related to the creation of fake jobs and misusing the job holders' details to create false employment data," Adhikari wrote.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly claimed that the objective behind the entire exercise was to build a 'fake narrative' and create a 'false perception' among voters on the state of affairs in the state ahead of the panchayat elections. "The administration is actively pursuing the malicious agenda to produce unsubstantiated data so that the West Bengal government can claim that they have been effective in generating employment, even after the central government, especially the Ministry of Rural Development, has cutailed funds for the MNREGA scheme," Adhikari wrote. (ANI)

Source: National