Mamata’s two-year rule a directionless journey: Congress

State government promoting Central schemes as its own, says Pradip Bhattacharya

Two days before the Mamata Banerjee government completes two years in office, the West Bengal Congress on Saturday released an assessment report terming the rule “a directionless journey.”

State Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya refuted the claims of development made by the State government. He said the vagueness in the politics of the Trinamool Congress was mirrored in the vague policies of the government.

“The State government is promoting Central schemes as its own,” he alleged.

The kisan credit cards scheme, which the State government was publicising, was a Central scheme, Mr. Bhattacharya said.

In a document released earlier this week, Finance Minister Amit Mitra had claimed that West Bengal had grown higher than the national average in the agriculture, industry and services sectors. He had said about 10 lakh kisan credit cards had been issued by the State.

The Congress leader said that on the one hand, the Mamata government was taking advantage of the Central schemes and on the other it was criticising the Union government.

Questioning the claims made by the State government on attracting industry to West Bengal, Mr. Bhattacharya said the figures being provided were misleading.

“The State has not been able to attract any investment and industries operating here are keen to move out of the State,” the Congress leader said.

Issues like unemployment, lack of industry and crisis in agriculture were yet to be addressed by the Trinamool government, he said.