Mamata asks President to ‘save’ India, seeks national government

Kolkata, Jan 6 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday urged President Pranab Mukherjee to "save the country from the mess" and sought a "national government" minus Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Terming the current situation in the country as "unacceptable", the Trinamool Congress chief said the "national government" at the Centre could have another Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader at its helm.

"All the institutions are under attack. This is a dangerous game. We appeal to the President to save the country from the mess," Banerjee said.

"There is terrorism and hallabazi in the name of governance at the Centre. They even dismantled the Planning Commission and set up Niti Ayog with their own men who do not understand the country."

The Trinamool Congress supremo particularly targeted Modi.

"The PM is behaving like Kalidas, trying to cut the branch he is sitting on," she said.

"To save this country, let a national government be formed: Advaniji, Rajnathji or Jaitleyji can head it," she said, referring to BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley.

"This current situation is just unacceptable. 'He' has to go," she said, in an obvious reference to Modi. "President and Supreme Court have (a) role (to play)."

Banerjee claimed a huge loss in terms of revenue due to the November 8 demonetisation and said a huge number of people in the state had been affected across various sectors because of the note ban.

"We have lost Rs 5,500 crore revenue due to Demonetisation. 1.7 crore people in the state have been affected."

She said 81.5 lakh workers had lost their jobs due to demonetisation in sectors like tea, jute, jewellery and beedi industry, she added, after an administrative review meeting at the Town Hall here.

The Trinamool Congress leader welcomed the President's comments about the demonetisation.