Shantipur/Salar/ Nalhati: Congress
President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday took on the Left Front government
alleging that it remained in power for 34 years banking on its
sole claim that it was the messiah of the poor, while it was
bankrupting the state by siphoning off central funds.
"Riding on the claim that they are sympathisers of the
poor, the Left has been ruling the state for the last 34 years
doing absolutely nothing for them and the backward people,"
Gandhi told an election meeting in Shantipur in Nadia district
after hitting the campaign trail for the second time in West
Bengal.
Gandhi, at another meeting at Salar in Murshidabad,
alleged that West Bengal was "siphoning off funds the Centre
has given to the state," for other purposes and so the state
remained backward.
"In the last 34 years, crores of rupees have been given
to West Bengal by the Centre for development, but the state
remains backward. Where have central funds gone? The Left
Front is responsible for this.
"I am sorry to say that during the 34-year rule of the
Left Front, West Bengal`s debt burden has grown to Rs two lakh
crore and it has turned into a bankrupt state," she claimed.
Attacking the state government for worsening law and
order, Gandhi alleged that the common people were feeling
insecure in the state.
"This government has duped the people with hollow
promises all these 34 years. Don`t trust the Left Front any
more and it should be taught a lesson this time," he said.
Gandhi, at the election meeting at Salar ignored the
presence of party MP Adhir Chowdhury who is backing four rebel
Congress candidates in the district, and urged the voters to
support the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance candidates.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is an MP
from the district, in a clear message to Chowdhury, also
called for ensuring the victory of all the 22 Congress
candidates from there.
Earlier, Gandhi addressed another rally at Nalhati in
Birbhum district in support of Pranab Mukherjee`s son Abhijit,
where she claimed that West Bengal had been taken on a road
to destruction under Left rule and assured that the
Congress-Trinamool alliance was determined to rid the state of
"misrule".
The Congress chief alleged that the Left Front
government was totally apathetic to the plight of the poor in
the state where "no BPL card was given".
She alleged that the welfare of farmers had stopped
being important in the eyes of the government and violence
against women was on the rise.
Gandhi had also campaigned in north Bengal on April 15
where she had stressed that Trinamool Congress led by Mamata
Banerjee was with the Congress and the alliance would strive
to free the state from Left "misrule".
PTI
