Mamata meets PM Modi, urges release of pending state funds

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which she urged him to release pending state funds.

"A 10-member delegation, including Trinamool Congress MPs, met the Prime Minister today," the Trinamool Congress supremo told reporters, adding that she has submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister.

On the funds worth Rs 1.16 lakh crore pending with the Centre for the state, she said that "we raised the issue with him".

"I urged the Prime Minister to release the funds due to the state which is a constitutional mandatory. The Prime Minister said there will be joint meetings between officers from Centre and West Bengal on this," the Chief Minister added.

On a query regarding Trinamool Congress party MP Kalyan Banerjee mimicking Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Banerjee said: "I would not comment on the same. There is a system, I won't interfere in Parliamentary party issues."

She also said that her parliamentary party can reply to this as they are enough to take a decision.

When asked about proposing Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for the Prime Ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc, the Chief Minister said: "Yes, I have proposed Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's name. Arvind Kejriwal supported my proposal."

She said that since everyone asks for the name of the Prime ministerial candidate "thus we proposed the name of Kharge".

"We supported his name as we don't have any issue with that and Kejriwal supported it," she said.