In a clear contrast to the Friday’s INDIA-level unity exercise in Mumbai where Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and Sitaram Yechury exchanged genialities, senior Congress Working Committee member Adhir Chowdhury and CPI(M) politburo member Md Salim spitted venom on the Bengal Chief Minister from an Assembly by-election rally at Dhupguri in North Bengal.
The two developments were parallel and took place almost about the same time.
While Rahul made a general statement that INDIA partners were on the verge of ironing out their differences and could soon be entering into seat-sharing talks from Dhupguri, Chowdhury said that there was no difference between Narendra Modi and Mamata as the former was “looting the country” and the latter was “looting Bengal.”
Attacking the Chief Minister for making sky-high promises butdelivering on none of them, the Pradesh Congress president said, “It was the Left and the Congress which as UPA allies had conceived the 100-days work scheme … but today’s Bengal is plagued by unemployment, violence and corruption.”
Reminding that under Mamata the overall debt of Bengal had reached to Rs 6 lakh crore when “each new baby is born with a debt of Rs 60,000 on its head,” Chowdhury said “Didi’s regime has perpetrated a reign of loot and violence in Bengal.”
Asking the people to “ignore certain developments here and there (read Bengaluru and Mumbai) and discount what the media tells you,” Chowdhury said, “concentrate on Bengal and think about who can address your issues.”