Congress can't team up with BJP in Bengal to attack Trinamool govt and expect cooperation in Delhi: Kalyan Banerjee in LS

Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee on Saturday took a dig at Congress in the Lok Sabha and said it cannot "team up" with BJP in West Bengal to attack Mamata Banerjee's government and then "expect cooperation from us in Delhi".

"Congress cannot team up with BJP in Bengal to attack Mamata Banerjee's government and then expect cooperation from us in Delhi. All parties strong in a region are very comfortable working with each other," he said.

Banerjee's remarks came soon after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in response to a question by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury that that West Bengal government did not share data of returning migrant labourers with the Centre and no district of the state could be included as a beneficiary under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan (PMGKRA).

Chowdhury, who is MP from Baharampur in West Bengal, asked his question in Bengali.

Sitharaman said Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PMGKRA for migrant labourers who came back their villages during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

She said the scheme was introduced on June 20 this year and will be effective for 125 days.

The minister said 116 districts spread across six states - Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are benefiting from this scheme.

"The selection of the districts was made on the basis of the return of at least 25,000 migrant labourers to the concerned districts by May 30," she said.

"After the launch of PMGKRA, there were demands from Tripura and Chhattisgarh to include more districts but it was not entertained. In the case of West Bengal, there was no data shared by the state government then how could the districts of the state be included in the scheme. The state government also denied entry to the migrant labourers in West Bengal in certain cases," she added.

The scheme was launched to provide employment opportunities in rural areas for migrant workers.

( With inputs from ANI )