Congress president Rahul Gandhi kick-started the party’s campaign for Lok Sabha elections in Bengal on Saturday, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at a public meeting in Malda. He also criticised the Left Front for lack of development in Bengal. Alleging that both Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee do not listen to people, Rahul said that like during the Left regime, youth and farmers are left in the lurch and atrocities against Congress workers were continuing during the TMC regime also. “Farmers are crying for debt waiver in Bengal and the rest of the country. Whether it is Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley or Mamata Banerjee. no one listens to the plight of farmers. You know better than me how much development has taken place in Bengal. In Bengal, one person runs everything. She never discusses or consults with anyone. One only hears speeches throughout the day,” Rahul told a huge gathering at Chanchal, Malda, where he arrived from Bihar on a helicopter. “During the CPM regime, they ran the government for an organisation. Now it is run for a particular person. Congress workers were beaten up during the Left regime, Congress workers are still beaten up. Has there been any development? Are the debts of farmers waived? Are the youths employed,” said Rahul Gandhi. Rahul’s meeting was held in support of Isha Khan Chowdhury, Congress candidate from Maldaha Uttar in Malda district, a traditional stronghold of Congress. Recently, Congress MP Mausam Noor joined Trinamool and is a Lok Sabha candidate. On Noor leaving Congress, Rahul said, “You have been betrayed by one of our own. You cannot do anything in Bengal with betrayal. I congratulate our workers and the people here who have stood by Congress in its good and bad days. We will form government at the Centre and I will not forget you. We have a relationship of love and not a political one. We will form government in Bengal also.” BJP gives funds to rich, I will give it to poor: Rahul in Purnia Speaking at a public meeting of the Congress in Purnia, his second in Bihar in less than two months, Rahul said that while some people may be afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was not afraid of “Modi, the BJP and RSS”. Reiterating his promise to transfer money to people below “minimum income line”, he wondered why people of Bihar did not get angry that their hard-earned money was being siphoned to selected rich people. No Grand Alliance constituent was invited for the event. The Congress, which may get Purnia in the Grand Alliance seat-sharing deal, could field former BJP MP Uday Singh who joined the Congress last week. He said that when Rs 3.5 lakh crore “had been given to 15-20 rich people”, it means there had been no dearth of funds. “They (BJP) are giving the fund to the rich, I have decided to give it to the poor,” he said, accusing Modi of creating two “Hindustans”.
