Mamata slams Ramesh for 'vindictive' remark

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has termed ''vindictive and unethical'' the statement of Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh who had sarcastically remarked that the “brain-dead (UPA) government” was sensitive towards Bengal.

Mamata wrote on her Facebook page that this kind of remark shows the vindictive attitude of the Central Government and is a stigma to the healthy democratic fibre of the country.

Informing Banerjee of the release of funds amounting to Rs 2,597 crore from the Centre for the implementation MGNREGA, Ramesh had said: “Incidentally, may I add that this reflects how sensitive the so-called "brain-dead government" in Delhi is to the needs of the people of West Bengal”.

Pointing the paragraph in which carried Ramesh’s stinging remark, Banerjee wrote, “Under Central Government schemes like MGNREGA, Government of India funds are released to all the states for implementation of the scheme. Releasing funds for the Central schemes is not a matter of charity. This is a pure governmental activity”.

She further said: “The statement is clearly vindictive, unethical and unconstitutional... I am really stunned to see that a Union Minister can write a distasteful statement like this to a state government. This creates a bad precedence and adds stigma to healthy democratic fibre of our country,” Banerjee wrote.

Urging the Centre to not to mix politics and governance, she said: “In a federal structure, the Central Government and the State Governments perform their roles as per the Constitution in public interest. Good and effective governance deserves a clear delineation of governmental activity and political activity”.