The latest face-off is between Amit Mitra, the Finance Minister of West Bengal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, spokesman of the Indian National Congress. Mitra had made a categorical statement that despite assurances from the Center, not a single penny had come to West Bengal from the central government.

Against this accusation, Manu Singhvi released information, which revealed that an amount of nearly 23,695 crores of rupees has already been made available to the state and said that the state was not projecting the correct picture, reported The Times of India.

The rejoinder of Amit Mitra, which he added with a smile at his press conference, was that one section of those funds were the proportionate tax earnings, which are the normal dues of every state from the center – hence, he did take that into consideration. Moreover, other funds released under specific heads could not be diverted to take care of regular requirements like payment of salaries.

His grouse was that the non repayment of interest in loans to the extent of 22,000 crores per annum should be deferred for three years – that would go a long way to help mitigate the financial woes of the state to a great extent – but no favorable decision has yet been take on this issue.

This sudden open aggression by the TMC indicates that it has drawn up some plans to probably sever the alliance. But then – it might lose the Railway Ministry and that would be a major setback to it because all its plans for the development of West Bengal revolve around the railways. If the TMC does go in for such drastic measures, it would be committing political suicide. In that case, the INC could consider a tie-up with another political party like the Samajwadi Party.