Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday hit out at the Mamata Banerjee government for not presenting the Budget in the Assembly.

Terming it as an exceptional practice which has no precedence, Bhattacharjee said: There is no government which does not present budget in the Assembly. No one knows how much money the government has and what is its expenditure. Bhattacharjee was speaking at a rally organised by CITU, the CPM's labour wing, at Sreerampore in Hooghly district.

Bhattacharjee who blamed the Centre for the steep price rise also took a dig at Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee for her recent visits to various retail markets in the city to get the first hand experience of the price rise. Will prices come down after a few days of visits to the markets? One has to see who is increasing the prices, he said.

We have said again and again that government will have to intervene when prices rice. There should be a universal public distribution system and subsidy on food grains in the state, said the former CM.

Today was the third of Bhattacharjee's rallies outside Kolkata, which is part of his district tour to boost the sagging morale of party rank and file.

On Saturday, he went to Haroa in North 24-Parganas district where, while addressing a rally of farmers, told them to unite and thwart all attempts of grabbing land by force by Trinamool supporters.

On September 16 he is going to address a rally at Howrah, organised by Gananatya Sangha, the CPM's cultural wing, and on September 18 Bhattacharjee is going to address a party rally at Beharampore in Murshidabad district