Left has destroyed Bengal, says Sonia

By Malabika Bhattacharya

KHARAGPUR (Midnapore), MAY 3. The Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, and the Trinamool Congress chief, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, today stepped out together for the first time to give the wobbly Congress-Trinamool alliance a push to challenge West Bengal's ruling Leftists in the May 10 Assembly election.

Addressing a joint rally at Kharagpur in Midnapore district, Ms. Gandhi criticised the Leftists, especially the Communist Party of India (Marxist), for ``running a corrupt and inefficient Government for the past 24 years.''

Mounting a two-pronged attack against the communists in the State and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, she said the Congress was determined to fight both. (Ms. Banerjee, however, refrained from making any comment - direct or indirect - against the BJP, her former ally, while addressing the rally).

``They (the Leftists) have demolished democratic values, destroyed Bengal's economy, robbed the average man in the name of welfare and unleashed atrocities on the Opposition,'' she said amid applause.

Ms. Gandhi's accent was on rural Bengal, considered the communists' bailiwick. She accused the Leftists of misusing the Central funds. ``The panchayat officials are having a free run of rural Bengal. They have no accountability,'' she said.

Disagreeing that the rural poor had benefitted from the Leftists' implementation of the land reforms programme, she said improper distribution of land had rendered hundreds of people jobless.``A large number of people are forced to leave their homes in search of jobs in other States.''

She also held the ruling Left Front responsible for the crumbling economy, lack of employment opportunities, poor health system and politicised education. ``There are still villages in Bengal where no primary schools exist.'' On the law and order situation in West Bengal, particularly Midnapore - Ms. Banerjee's pet subject - Ms. Gandhi said the Left was ``stockpiling illegal arms and unleashing a reign of terror in the State to stifle the Opposition.''

Interestingly, Ms. Gandhi, in her 10-minute speech, contested Ms. Banerjee's oft-repeated charge that the West Bengal Congress had never made any effort to launch an intensive campaign against the communists over the past 24 years as it was ``the communists' B- team.''

``They (the West Bengal Congress) have been resisting the communists for years. Many have sacrificed their lives while conducting movements against them,'' she said.

Presenting a background for the alliance, Ms. Gandhi said the Congress had tied up with the Trinamool only after it severed its links with the NDA. ``Initially, we had our differences but now that she (Ms. Banerjee) has walked out of the NDA, things are all right.''

As part of her election tour, Ms. Gandhi arrived in Kharagpur at 10.45 a.m. along with Ms. Banerjee, the West Bengal Congress president, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, and Mr. Kamal Nath, in- charge of Bengal affairs. The meeting was the first in a series Ms. Gandhi and Ms. Banerjee addressed in the first leg of their joint campaign in the State.

Braving the hot sun, hundreds of men, women and children assembled at Ravana Maidan to hear the leaders. Clad in a cream printed cotton sari, Ms. Gandhi stood on the dais with Ms. Banerjee. Both waved at the crowd which was renting the air with slogans. The candidates for Midnapore - 31 from the Trinamool Congress, four of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and two from the Congress, were also present.

Earlier, Ms. Banerjee asked the people to provide an opportunity to the alliance to end the 24-year rule of the Left Front.

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