At a time when the Left is going all out in accusing Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee of playing a money game in the Assembly elections, Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi turned the heat on the 34-year-old Communist regime on Wednesday blaming it for “taking West Bengal to the path of destruction” by siphoning off funds and affirmed that the Trinamul Congress-Congress alliance will free the state from the “misrule” of the Left Front.
Reposing faith on the alliance with the Trinamul Congress despite some dissidence in her party, Mrs Gandhi heaped praises on Ms Banerjee and said that the people in West Bengal will witness a kranti (revolution) under her leadership soon. Mrs Gandhi, “She and her party have not only always supported the UPA-II government’s policies but also fought for the welfare of the country and people. The Trinamul and Congress have vowed to fight jointly to free Bengal from the misrule of the Left Front. I urge the voters to remember the ouster of the Left while voting this time and give a fitting reply to its misrule to usher in development in the state.”
She also described the Left Front government’s promises “false” while addressing a packed election rally at Nalhati in Birbhum in support of Congress candidate from Nalhati Abhijit Mukherjee, the son of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. Raising a question on the use of “crores” of Central funds for different development projects in the state, she claimed that the result remained invisible as the funds were siphoned off. She sought an explanation from the state government for the poor state of affairs.
Mrs Gandhi said, “The Centre sent thousands of crores of rupees for the welfare of the people of Bengal to the Left Front government under various development programmes. Surprisingly and sadly the impact of the funds cannot be found anywhere in the state. So the obvious questions that rise are how and where the state government has used these funds. Who is responsible for the poor condition of the state?”
Holding the CPI(M)-led Left Front government squarely responsible for poor situation in Bengal, the Congress president alleged that while the state has been ridden by acute poverty and unemployment, farmers’ welfare has lost its priority. Besides the violence against women has been on the rise, she observed. Terming the condition of the farmers and industrial workers “pathetic”, Mrs Gandhi alleged that the unorganised sector did not see the light of development.