Kolkata: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday
assured a Left Front delegation that he would take up the
issue of giving a fresh look at Centre-state relations and
more funds to states at the meeting of the National
Development Council.
"The Prime Minister has assured us that he will discuss
the two issues (Centre-state relations and more funds to the
states) at the next NDC meeting," Leader of Opposition Surjya
Kanta Mishra, who headed a six-member Left Front delegation,
told reporters after meeting the prime minister.
The delegation, he said, discussed with the Prime
Minister how the Left parties could cooperate with the state
government for the overall development of West Bengal.
"We expressed our keenness though our earlier requests
for cooperation to those in power now (Trinamool Congress) and
did not find any response.
"We tried to impress upon the PM that being in the
opposition bench we are ready to fully cooperate with the
state government in realising the just demands of the state
from the Centre," he said, adding the prime minister gave the
delegates a patient hearing.
Mishra claimed that as opposition leader in the house,
he had repeatedly asked Finance Minister Amit Mitra to
initiate a joint move to realise the legitimate demands of the
state from the Centre.
PTI
First Published: Monday, August 22, 2011, 13:10