Political slugfest over Mamata's inauguration of railway bridge in Singur

Kolkata: A political slugfest broke out after West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, on Friday afternoon, inaugurated a railway bridge at Kamarkundu railway station under Singur block in Hooghly district.

Incidentally, Singur was the venue of the erstwhile Nando project of Tata Motors and Banerjee's movement against land acquisition for the project played a key role in her becoming the Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2011, ousting the 34-year long Left Front rule in the state.

Soon after she inaugurated the railways bridge, Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari slammed the Chief Minister for inaugurating the bridge without inviting Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

He pointed out that the railway bridge was constructed in joint collaboration of the Railway Ministry and the state government, where the former had borne 60 per cent of the total cost of Rs 46.86 crore. Apart from that, Adhikari said, the railways has spent an additional Rs 5 crore for constructing a subway there.

"Despite the Railways having borne the majority of the cost, neither the Railways Minister or anyone from the Railways department received invitation at the inauguration on Friday. The Chief Minister, who often speaks of the federal structure of the country, herself insulted that structure on Friday. Today, the Chief Minister has proved again that she is unparalleled and unmatched in the sphere of devious politics," he said.

However, Trinamool Congress's state Vice President, Jaiprakash Majumdar, has rubbished Adhikari's claims. "The Union government spends money from the tax they collect from the common people. The people of West Bengal have provided the money and so the Chief Minister of the state inaugurated that. There is no politics involved with that," he said.