Mamata to raise issue of debt waiver with Prime Minister

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had sought to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time in nine months after his assuming office, today said she will raise the state's debt waiver issue with him.
"In the last nine months, I did not have any talk with the Prime Minister. I had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley like Amit Mitra (state finance minister)", she told reporters after presentation of West Bengal budget in the Assembly today.
"I will raise the issue of waiver of debt repayments with the Prime Minister as the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission are out," she said.

"We want waiver of debt repayment as we are carrying the legacy of the previous (Left Front) government," Banerjee said.
"Everytime we met former Finance Ministers of the UPA government like Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram raising the issue, we were told to wait for the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission," she said.
"Even in our meetings with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and present Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, we were told the same but in the recommendations our demand has been completely ignored, the Chief Minister said.