Sitharaman says Bengal CM allotted due time at NITI Aayog meeting

NEW DELHI: The central government’s fact-checking body on Saturday refuted as “misleading” the claim made by West Bengal chief minster about her microphone being switched off during a meeting of the NITI Aayog in the national capital on Saturday.

A PIB fact check refuted her allegations, stating that “the clock only showed that her speaking time was over.”

“It is being claimed that the microphone of CM, West Bengal was switched off during the 9th Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog. This claim is misleading. The clock only showed that her speaking time was over. Even the bell was not rung to mark it,” the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told ANI that it is “completely false” of Mamata Banerjee to claim that her microphone was switched off and claimed that every chief minister at the meeting was “allotted their due time to speak.”