Mamata Banerjee not a good administrator: Ramesh

Lalgarh (WB): Union Minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioning her claim that the Centre was not providing funds to her government and said she was "not a good administrator".

"Mamataji is a good political leader but she is not a good administrator. She claims that the Centre has not given any financial assistance to West Bengal but it not true," Ramesh, Union Minister for Rural Development, told a Congress meeting here in the erstwhile Maoist stronghold of `jangalmahal`. "In fact, we have given Rs 13,000 crore in the last one year only for the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana and another Rs 2,700 crore for building 5,500 km of road for rural development," he said. He claimed central assistance given for socio-economic development of indigenous people were not properly used either by the erstwhile Left Front government or by the TMC government in the past one and half years of its rule. "This has made the people to seek change again...The people will vote for Congress both in coming panchayat polls and in 2016 assembly polls," he claimed. Referring to the peaceful situation prevailing in jangalmahal, he said it was not created solely by the state. "Whatever Mamata Banerjee might say, she cannot deny the role of central forces in re-establishing peace in Lalgarh... Central forces are still deployed here," he said. In an obvious reference to Banerjee often dubbing Congress as the B team of CPI(M), he said " many leaders were born within Congress, they got all the benefits and then hit the party. But Congress is alive. None can eliminate Congress from the state. We will face the challenge." PTI