Mamata Banerjee presents budget

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee presented the vote on account in the State Legislative Assembly yesterday. The Governor of the state Jagdeep Dhankhar permitted the Chief Minister to present the budget instead of Finance Minister Amit Mitra as he could not attend the house due to illness.

With the state assembly elections round the corner, Ms Banerjee made a slew of announcements, including a hike in the annual aid of farmers. The CM said that the state government plans to build a state-level planning commission as a



mark of tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Meanwhile, unruly scenes were witnessed during the day as BJP legislators trooped into the Well of the Assembly, demanding that Amit Mitra, and not Ms Banerjee, should be reading out the vote-on-account. Later, they walked out of the House. MLAs of the Left Front and the Congress  also boycotted the session.

The estimates for the first four months of the new fiscal would be taken up for discussion for two days.