Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 17 (ANI): Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, has launched a scathing attack on the Mamata Banerjee-led state government, calling it 'insolvent' and predicting its removal from power.

Adhikari criticised the West Bengal government for failing to implement the 7th Pay Commission, pointing out that while the rest of the country has moved forward, West Bengal has not even formed a committee for it.

'This is an insolvent government that will soon be removed from power... Mamata Banerjee should keep both her eyes open; they are building a cultural centre worth Rs 250 crores. They are providing a salary of Rs 9,000 crore per year, but the state employees are subject to stepmotherly treatment. The 7th Pay Commission has been implemented in the entire country, but here in the state, even the 7th Pay Commission committee has not yet been formed. PM Modi and the central government are so advanced that they have even formed the 8th pay commission committee...,' Adhikari said on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court directed the West Bengal government to pay 25% dearness allowance (DA) to state government employees.

Praising the decision, BJP leader Amit Malviya termed it a 'major victory' for the employees and the state unit of his party.

'This is a major victory for West Bengal government employees and the BJP in Bengal,' Malviya said in a post on X.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta issued an interim order directing the West Bengal government to make the payment within three months and posted the matter to be heard next in August.

Malviya alleged that the West Bengal government made multiple attempts to delay proceedings.

'After a long legal battle and multiple attempts by the state government--nearly 17 adjournments--to delay proceedings, the Supreme Court has finally delivered a landmark order. The court has directed the West Bengal government to pay at least 25% of the pending Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears to its employees,' he said.

'Initially, the Supreme Court suggested that the state pay 50% of the dues. However, senior advocate and Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the Trinamool Congress-led state government, argued that the state lacked the financial capacity to make such a large payment at once. He claimed that such a move would 'break the back' of the state government financially. If only Mamata Banerjee and her close aides had not looted the exchequer with brazen impunity, there would have been money to pay the state government employees,' Malviya said. (ANI)