Addressing his first public meeting this poll season, former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee made a strong pitch for the Left-Congress alliance.
The pitch came from a joint rally where Bhattacharjee shared the dais with Congress Vice President, Rahul Gandhi.
Bhattacharjee, who was welcomed with a tricolour
“This is the first time in our history that the Left and Congress have come together. Rahul Gandhi and I are sharing a dais. This gives you an indication of how important the occasion is. \
“The need of the hour is to remove this government of anti-socials,” he said at a meeting here on Wednesday.
According to him, the Left front “cannot remove this government alone”; hence the alliance with the Congress.
In rare praise for the Congress, the former Chief Minister referred to how Rajiv Gandhi had supported West Bengal’s panchayati-raj system.
“Trinamool Congress has successfully pushed back development in the State. Not one new industry or employment has happened. The panchayati raj system is in tatters. We need to restore democracy in the State,” he said.
Yet again batting for industrialisation, his pet subject, he added: “Thousands of youth need to be employed. Where else will it come from apart from industry?”
Rahul too directed his criticism at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, even as he vowed all-out support for “alliance candidates”.
“The symbol of this Mamata Banerjee government is corruption. The collapse of the Vivekananda Road flyover is symbolic of the corruption that this West Bengal government has succumbed to,” he said.
The alliance is against corruption, said Rahul. Once it comes to power, it will ensure that the guilty — be it the building material supply cartels responsible for providing sub-standard materials in flyovers, or those involved in the multi-crore Saradha scam, or legislators and leaders allegedly caught taking bribes in the Narada tapes scam — will be brought to book, he added.
“Mamata ji, you failed to take action against corruption. But the alliance will not. All those guilty will be punished. It is a promise,” he said. Rahul also tore into Banerjee’s oft-repeated phrases of “concocted incidents” and “false claims”.
“The only thing that is concocted is your development claims in Bengal. What’s fake is your mock-fights with PM (Narendra) Modiji,” he said.