Didi slams MEA, says her remark on Bangladesh was 'distorted'

NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief ministerMamata Banerjee on Friday said her recent statement on violence-hit Bangladesh was " distorted " and took on the foreign ministry for criticising her comment.

"I know the federal structure very well. I was an MP seven times, I was Union minister twice. I know the MEA policy better than anyone else," she said. "The MEA should learn some lessons since they forgot about it when they were working out the Teesta and Ganga water accords unilaterally with Bangladesh, without involving the main stakeholder (WB)."

Clarifying that she had only offered help to those caught in the violence, Banerjee said, "My words were distorted by BJP and a certain section of people in Bangladesh. We wanted to avoid any trouble, as there were riots on the Assam border, and our police rescued 2,000 students from the Bengal border."

'Scrap Niti Aayog':

Banerjee said she would ask PM Modi "to scrap Niti Aayog and restore Planning Commission," at the Niti Aayog governing council meeting on Saturday. She said she would speak out for her state, as well as for the states governed by INDIA bloc parties.