Rahul stands behind Left tie-up, compares Mamata to Modi

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The Congress and CPM strove to put up a united front at the rally, with an equal number of flags of the two parties at the ground in Burdwan district. Sitting CPM MLA from Pandabeswar Gauranga Chatterjee, and Left Front candidate from Durgapur East constituency Santosh Debray shared the stage with Congress leaders. People marched towards the venue shouting both “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Bande Mataram”.

Rahul promised that a Congress-Left government would take action against the accused in the Saradha scam and return the money of the poor.

He had agreed to the partnership as it was what workers at the grassroots wanted, he said. “They told me they were looking for two things — removal of the TMC-led government and joining hands with the Left to achieve it.”

Rahul admitted that the Congress had been in alliance with the TMC five years ago, but said their experience had been bitter. “Mamata behaves in a way a queen would, like during the British era. You would be punished for anything you said against her will. We didn’t lend our support for a dictatorship detrimental to development, employment generation and welfare of farmers.”

Rahul, who paid a visit to the site of the flyover collapse in Kolkata, said the Chief Minister could not wash her hands of it.

“Money was sent from the Centre but the flyover work progressed at a sluggish pace. A TMC leader was behind building it. It fell because faulty material was being used and Mamata now says it is not political. Your people were building it and after it collapsed, it took the lives of common people and not of your workers,” he said.

Drawing a parallel between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mamata, he added, “At the Centre, Modi talks to people about his mann ki baat and doesn’t want to listen to the mann ki baat of the nation. In their meetings, Modi sits on a small stage and MPs are made to sit below. He does all the talking. Similar is the situation in Bengal where Mamata runs the entire show. Even her MPs tell us they can hardly speak when she is around.”

Rahul also compared the claims of both Modi and Mamata regarding employment generation. “While Mamata said there had been employment generation of 70 lakh, Modi said his government had provided jobs to 2 crore. I have not seen anyone saying he or she got jobs because of either Mamata or Modi.”