Centre working out fiscal package for WB: Pranab

The Centre is working out a financial package for West Bengal to tide over the huge problems the new government has inherited from the Left Front administration, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.

New Delhi: The Centre is working out a financial package for West Bengal to tide over the huge problems the new government has inherited from the Left Front administration, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.

"We are working out a package through which we can provide necessary support to the state," he told a news agency, ahead of his meeting with West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra here tomorrow to discuss the state`s finances and work out a
recovery plan.

Mukherjee said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has inherited fiscal problems from Left Front`s governance of over three decades, "requires accommodation" and the Centre has something to "accommodate her".

The mechanism of providing assistance was being worked in a sustainable manner, he said.

The Finance Minister`s remarks come against the backdrop of recent sharp criticism by Banerjee of Mukherjee over his reported statement on assistance to West Bengal.

"I not know how these remarks have been ascribed to me when the meeting (with Congress MLAs last week in Kolkata) was a closed door discussion and there was no no
interaction with media," he said.

Moreover, he said, no comment was made with reference to any particular state including West Bengal and that he had no interaction during his stay in Kolkata.

PTI

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