Pranab to meet Bengal governor on state's financial crisis

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to hold a meeting on Tuesday with West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan who had discussed the state's financial issues with the former recently, official sources said tonight.

The meeting, which will be held at the Raj Bhavan, assumes significance as Narayanan had taken up the financial issue a week after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked the Centre to treat the state "differently" and sought a debt restructuring plan.

Following the meeting with Mukherjee on October 28 in New Delhi, Narayanan had said he discussed the "money issue" with Mukherjee who was favourable to "our demands".

Trinamool Congress MPs are likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the same day (November 8) over the party's unhappiness with the petrol price hike.

Banerjee had last month demanded a financial package at the National Development Council meet to tide over the crisis in the debt ridden state.

"After 34 years of misrule, founded on coercion and violence, the economy of the state is in shambles. Therefore, the 12th Plan must give special attention towards the regeneration of the great state of West Bengal," she had said at the NDC meeting in New Delhi.