Abhishek Banerjee, Mahua Moitra 'dragged, manhandled' by Delhi Police amid protest over central funds release: TMC alleges

The Trinamool Congress, which was holding a dharna at the Union Rural Development Ministry, claimed that the Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti refused to meet them saying she would not meet more than five representatives.

"Today 02:30 hours was wasted. I left the office at 08:30 while waiting for the Trinamool MPs. According to my information, the delegation of Trinamool MPs and Bengal ministers had taken an appointment in the office at 06:00," the Minister tweeted.

"But later they wanted to meet, presenting Trinamool workers as public, which was against the office system. They backed away from the scheduled topics of the meeting because the intention was not to meet but to do politics. This is a very shameful incident done by Trinamool leaders," Niranjan said.

The Trinamool leaders, who had brought with them bundles of letters addressed to the Prime Minister and the Rural Development Minister, refused to leave till the Minister met them.

Led by Mamata Banerjee's nephew and party MP Abhishek Banerjee, a group of party MPs, and state cabinet ministers sat on a dharna, which dragged on till 9 pm.

At this point, claims the party, the police broke up the protest and detained several leaders.

"This is how elected MPs of the world’s largest democracy are treated after being given an appointment to meet with a Minister of the Govt of India (which she refused to honour after making us wait 3 hours) Shame @narendramodi  shame @AmitShah," Mahua Moitra tweeted.

In another video released by the TMC, Abhishek Banerjee could also be seen dragged along with some other leaders of the party. Rajya Sabha MP Derek O' Brien was put into a bus and taken away.

Moitra later tweeted to say that they all are being detained till night in a camp with no paperwork.

The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has accused the BJP-led NDA government of withholding Rs. 15,000 crore in dues to the state under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and PM Awas Yojana.

The BJP has rejected the charge and accused the Trinamool of doing a "drama" in Delhi to divert attention from the scams in West Bengal.