Modi government is trying to mislead farmers of West Bengal: TMC

Modi had blamed the state government for depriving farmers in Bengal of cash benefits under the 'PM Kisan Nidhi Samman' scheme

The Trinamool Congress on Friday accused the Centre of trying to mislead farmers of West Bengal by repeatedly blaming the state government for depriving them of cash benefits under the 'PM Kisan Nidhi Samman' scheme.

"BJP is repeatedly saying the farmers of West Bengal are being deprived of cash under this scheme. That is not true. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had asked the Centre to route the cash benefits through the state government and not directly to the farmers.

"The intention of the Modi government is to reap political benefits," TMC MP Sougata Roy told reporters here.

Roy also said the new farm legislations will help corporates and usher in contract farming in the country.

The Union government used "brute majority" in Parliament to pass the new farm bills, which also deleted potato and onion from the essential commodities list, he said.

This is causing price rise of potatoes and onions in the market, which is becoming difficult for the state governments to control, the senior TMC leader said.

The West Bengal government, under its 'Krishak Bandhu' scheme, has disbursed Rs 2,642 crore to farmers of the state and budgetary allocation to the farming sector increased five times, Roy said.

Earlier in the day, Prime minister Narendra Modi disbursed Rs 18,000 crore to 9 crore farmer families of the country.