At a press conference here, TMC Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale said the Oceania division of Ministry of External Affairs recommended against Deputy High Commissioner Nicholas McCaffrey meeting West Bengal Industry and Commerce Minister Shashi Panja, IT Minister Babul Supriyo, and Agriculture Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay.
“The government of West Bengal received communication from the Australian High Commission that the Deputy High Commissioner would be visiting the state and he had sought meetings with three ministers. Following this, there was a communication from the MEA’s Oceania division handling the Oceania region that the ministry does not recommend that the Australian Deputy High Commissioner meet the three state ministers,” he said.
“The question here is very simple. What problem does the NDA government have if a diplomat representing his country in India has a meeting with cabinet ministers in one of the states of India?” Gokhale asked.
According to sources, while a ‘no objection’ was given to the Australian Deputy High Commissioner to meet Dilip Ghosh, Sukanta Majumdar, Derek O’Brien, and Jawhar Sircar, they recommended against meeting the state ministers.
Gokhale said the issue will be discussed with other INDIA parties and raised in Parliament.
He also claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been denied permission for visits abroad on more than one occasion.
“The Ministry of External Affairs seems to have a double face when it comes to foreign relations of the country and the states of India… This has happened with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, where on several occasions she has been invited in a foreign country to address a business summit or for a program and the Ministry of External Affairs has refused to give protocol clearance,” Gokhale said.
Fellow Rajya Sabha member of the party Sagarika Ghose said Banerjee has been stopped thrice from visiting abroad.
“Mamata Banerjee was stopped three times from travelling abroad. This is fundamental assault on federal structure. The mandate is not for autocracy anymore…” she said.
The TMC leaders also demanded a probe in the alleged stock market manipulation through exit polls.
“This is a stock market manipulation scam by BJP. If it is not investigated, it’s a disservice to the people of India. We stand for protection of the Indian investor,” Gokhale said.
The TMC MPs said the issue will be raised in the upcoming Parliament session as well.
A delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs met officials of the Securities and Exchange Board of India here on Tuesday and demanded a probe into the alleged stock market manipulation following exit polls earlier this month.
Similar allegations have also been made by Congress and other INDIA bloc parties, who have claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were “directly involved” in the alleged “stock market scam” with retail investors losing ₹30 lakh crore due to the market crashing after the Lok Sabha poll result earlier this month.
The BJP has dismissed the charges as “baseless”.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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