• Source:JND
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Reacting to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegation that her mic was turned off during the NITI Aayog’s meeting, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that the chief minister was lying. “The things that Mamata Banerjee is saying regarding the NITI Aayog meeting, I feel like she is lying. It is very surprising if a state’s chief minister wasn’t allowed to speak. Mamata Banerjee knew what would be happening there. She had the script,” Chowdhury said. 

However, the Congress party said that the treatment meted out to Banerjee was ‘unacceptable’. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is one of the most vocal critics of Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. He has slammed her multiple times, recently during the Lok Sabha elections. 

Chowdhury’s remarks came after Banerjee walked out of the NITI Aayog meeting on July 27 alleging that her mic was muted, and she was allowed to speak only for five minutes. “I said you (central government) should not discriminate against state governments. I wanted to speak but I was allowed to speak only for 5 minutes. People before me spoke for 10-20 minutes. I was the only one from the opposition who was participating but still, I was not allowed to speak. This is insulting,” the Bengal CM told reporters. 

Following Mamata Banerjee’s allegation, Congress targeted the NITI Aayog, saying it had functioned as a "drumbeater" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since its inception. "Since it was established ten years ago, NITI Aayog has been an attached office of the PMO and has functioned as a drumbeater for the non-biological PM. Its functioning has been blatantly partisan, and it is anything but professional and independent," said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

Earlier Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other BJP leaders denied her allegations. Refuting Banerjee’s claims, Sitharaman said, “CM Mamata Banerjee attended the Niti Aayog meeting. We all heard her... She said in the media that her mic was turned off. That is completely false.” She added, “If she’s reminded that her time is over, even with the mic on, she could have requested to continue speaking as some other CMs did. But she chose to use it as an excuse to get out of the meeting.”