Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], January 22 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Shankar Ghosh on Thursday accused the West Bengal government of harassing opposition representatives and held a one-day hunger strike over obstruction in utilising the Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development (MLALAD) funds.
While speaking to ANI from the strike, Ghosh stated that neither Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee nor any state government officials cooperated in the utilisation of MLALAD funds.
"... The opposition representatives are being harassed by the state government... As with many other MLAs, I am being obstructed from using my MLALAD (the Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development Scheme)... I submitted a deputation to our chief minister within the assembly. She didn't respond. I wrote the letter to the chief secretary, informed the speaker... I asked the mayor of Siluguri Municipal Corporation to sit with me to utilise the entire MLALAD. But there was no cooperation whatsoever from the state government...," he said.
Stating that the "money allotted for the MLALAD is very small," Ghosh said, "... Today I will go on a hunger strike, and it will continue tomorrow..."
The MLA added that several other opposition legislators were facing similar issues in utilising the allocated development funds.
Separately on Wednesday, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging that she disrespects constitutional systems and does not want the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to be conducted properly.
"Mamata Banerjee does not respect any constitutional system; all constitutional systems are collapsing in Bengal. Courts are being challenged here. It is the job of the government, the police, and the state government employees to complete the Special Investigation Report (SIR), but they are not doing so because Mamata Banerjee does not want the SIR to be conducted and the fake names to be exposed. Therefore, the Election Commission must ensure that the SIR is conducted with utmost care...," he said.
The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is being carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections and has come under intense public and legal scrutiny.