Corruption had seeped into every sphere of the state government's functioning during the 15-year Trinamool Congress regime from 2011 to 2026, and its impact is now surfacing after the new state government assumed office, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Sunday.
“We are committed to fulfilling the promises made in our election manifesto. But as we are getting deeper into governance, instances of rampant corruption during the Trinamool Congress regime are surfacing in each and every sphere of administrative functioning.
The situation is such that there will be no place in the existing correctional homes in the state, and we will have to build a separate jail at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. However, we are determined to fulfil the promises given in our election manifesto.
"The people of West Bengal will get the benefits of the work that our government will do in the state with transparency for the next 50 years,” CM Adhikari said at a programme of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata on Sunday.
According to him, the Lakshmir Bhandar monthly allowance scheme run by the previous state government was an example of the extent of corruption. “Once we replaced Lakshmir Bhandar with Annapurna Yojana, we came to know the kind of corruption that had been going on under the previous scheme.
“Earlier, there were 2.20 crore beneficiaries under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. We found that 27 lakh beneficiaries did not even have their names in the voters' list. Around three lakh male beneficiaries were receiving benefits under the scheme,” the Chief Minister said.
At the same time, he conveyed a message to the BJP workers present on the occasion about the importance of collective leadership. “I said earlier that it would be ‘us’ and not ‘I’. Today I am saying this again. We will have to work unitedly. Politics in this state lasts for 12 months.
The politics here is different compared to other states. BJP's ideology, the Prime Minister's guarantee and people's expectations should be given priority. We have to build strong relationships among ourselves,” the Chief Minister said.