Simultaneously attacking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that his party was taking on the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly polls as “Mamataji has cheated the Congress and the people of West Bengal.”
Addressing two rallies in Murshidabad and one in Nadia, which will go to the polls in the third phase on Thursday, he said Ms. Banerjee and Mr. Modi made promises, but they did not keep them. “Today Mr. Modi talks of ‘Make in India.’ he says two crore youths will get jobs, but not a single youth has got a job,” he said. “Ms. Banerjee promised jobs to 70 lakh youths. Is there a single youth who has got a job? Instead, they have to migrate to others States for livelihood.
Mr. Gandhi pointed to the flyover collapse in the city and the Saradha chitfund scam so as to target the Trinamool Congress over corruption. “After the flyover collapsed, Ms. Banerjee is talking of action. The flyover was there for seven years. Why she did not act in the last five years when her own men were constructing this flyover with inferior material,” he asked. The Prime Minister also talked about corruption, but did not act, he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
At a rally in Kandi in Murshidabad district, he touched upon local issues such as arsenic contamination of water and the Kandi master plan to prevent flooding. He said the UPA government had allocated sufficient funds for the projects, but the Trinamool Congress government did not act.
Unlike in his rallies in south Bengal, especially at Kulti and Durgapur, where Mr. Gandhi spoke about the unity between the Congress and the Left Front, he was quite on the issue. This is significant because in 10 seats in Murshidabad, Left Front and Congress nominees are locked in a friendly contest.
Mr. Gandhi, however, hoped that the Congress and the Left Front would oust the Trinamool government.
ADVERTISEMENT