Is Centre giving money to WB out of charity? Karat asks Sonia

Kolkata, Apr 21 (PTI) CPI-M chief Prakash Karat Thursday
hit back at Congress president Sonia Gandhi for accusing the
eastern Indian state of West Bengal government of failure to
utilise Central funds given for development, saying she has
undermined federalism and asked whether Centre was giving
money "out of charity."
Karat asserted it was up to the state government to
decide how it would spend funds.
"In a federal system, the states have the right to
share the taxes and the revenues raised by the Centre. How the
state governments will spend the revenue is the business of
the state governments," the Communist Party of India-Marxist
general secretary told a press conference here.
Stating that Gandhi's statement undermined federalism,
he asked, "Is the Centre giving the money out of charity. The
Centre is bound by the Constitution to devolve portions of
the taxes and revenues to the states."
Pointing out that the Centre now shared 32 per cent of
the revenue it raised from West Bengal, he said the state
government wanted the share to be raised to 50 per cent.
Gandhi at an election meeting in West Bengal Wednesday
alleged that the Left Front Government was "siphoning off
funds the Centre has given to the state," for other purposes
and so the state remained backward.
"In the last 34 years, crores of rupees have been given
to West Bengal by the Centre for development, but the state
remains backward. Where have central funds gone? The Left
Front is responsible for this.
On other issues, Karat claimed there was evidence of the
role of black money in the ongoing elections in West Bengal
and he urged the Election Commission to take measures in
checking the flow of illegal cash as it did in south
Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
"Let it set up check posts on all roads and hand over
the Income Tax department any unaccounted money that may be
seized," he said, adding that the EC's initiatives in
recovering illegal money in Tamil Nadu had yielded Rs 50 crore
in cash and another 20 crore in kind.
Ridiculing Opposition Trinamool Congress' slogan for
change, he said, "does change mean reversal of the land
reforms through which 11 lakh acre were distributed? Does it
mean bringing back the bad old days of the seventies before
the Left Front came to power?"
Stating that West Bengal had become a "bastion" of
communal harmony in over three decades of the Left rule, Karat
said a change of regime could bring back communal politics to
the state.
While the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine was the
main opposition in the state, there were other "unofficial"
partners like the Maoists, he alleged.
Karat claimed the Trinamool Congress was also getting
support from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and "all forces
advocating division of the state."
He said the Trinamool Congress would have to give some
"serious explanation" on a WikiLeaks document which quotes the
US consul-general here advising the American government to
cultivate the party and its supremo Mamata Banerjee.
The document, which appeared in a daily today, also
quotes the US consul-general as saying that Trinamool Congress
was not taking an anti-US stand publicly and was privately
reaching out to US officials here since the 2009 general
elections, Karat said.
"This is the party which is calling for a change in
the state. The Trinamool will have to do some serious
explanation," he said.
Asked about the statements by some of his party
leaders that the Trinamool was helping the BJP, India's
principal opposition party, in the state, he said, "the point
we are making is that the Trinamool was once an ally of the
BJP and because of the BJP it got some MPs from the state."
"The BJP is not strong in West Bengal, but it should
be seen that it does not gain a foothold in the state with the
help of parties like the Trinamool Congress," he said.