TMC, Congress spat escalates as Mamata arrives in Goa

Chidambaram and Mahua Moitra got into a war of words over the TMC’s poll promise to transfer Rs 5,000 to every household

With Mamata Banerjee arriving in Panaji for her second visit to Goa in two months, the spat between Trinamool Congress and the Congress over the poll-bound coastal state escalated on Sunday.

Mahua Moitra, a Trinamool Congress member in the Lok Sabha, sharply reacted after senior Congress leader P Chidambaram took a dig at Mamata Banerjee’s party for its poll promise of transferring Rs 5,000 every month to the account of a woman of every household in Goa. “Here is a math that deserves the Nobel Prize for Economics. A monthly grant of Rs 5000 to a woman in 3.5 lakh households in Goa will cost Rs 175 crore a month. That is Rs 2100 crore a year,” tweeted the former Union Finance Minister.

He was referring to the 'Griha Laxmi' income support programme that the Trinamool Congress promised to launch for the women in Goa.

Moitra, who is overseeing the Trinamool Congress’s campaign in Goa, tweeted the party’s latest poll promise for the women of the state on Saturday. The Trinamool Congress made the promise just a day after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the state pledged to ensure 30 per cent reservation for women in government recruitment if the grand old party was voted to power.

Chidambaram, however, raised questions over the Trinamool Congress’s poll promise in Goa. He pointed out that Rs 2100 crore would be required annually to implement the scheme promised by West Bengal Chief Minister’s party in the coastal state. “It is a ‘small’ sum for the State of Goa that had an outstanding debt of Rs 23,473 crore at the end of March 2020. God bless Goa! Or should it be God save Goa?” tweeted the Rajya Sabha member.

Moitra responded to Chidambaram on Twitter and dismissed scepticism about the Trinamool Congress’s poll promise. “Yes sir @Pchidambaram_IN ₹5000 to 3.5 lakh Goan households = ₹2100 crores is 6-8% of total budget which is perfectly doable. Good economics in depressed post covid scenario requires putting cash in hand & (and) liquidity into system.”

Goa, which is currently ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, is likely to go to polls in February to elect 40 members of the legislative assembly of the state. It is one of the states the Trinamool Congress targeted as it planned to expand itself beyond West Bengal after trouncing the BJP in the assembly elections in the eastern state in March-April this year.

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