Pranab lambasts state govt

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Sept. 12: The Union defence minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, while addressing election rallies at Kaliachak and Sujapur last evening, alleged that the Left Front government in the state had failed to stand to the expectations of the people in its 30 years of ruling. Mr Mukherjee said that the state government had failed to do anything substantial for the development of industries in the region and rebuked the chief minister saying that mere signing of MoUs and attending foundation stone laying programmes could never ensure industrial development to the state. “The chief minister always says ‘do it now’, but his government fails to adhere to the policies,” Mr Mukherjee, said. Addressing election rallies at Baishnabnagar and adjoining areas, the minister, said: “Malda CPI-M leaders are trying hard to portray themselves as the successor of late ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury on the issue of development in this district. But this is being done only to win the bypoll. No development worth mentioning will be initiated by the CPI-M. It is only the Congress and its MP, who can successfully develop this region as per the dream and desire of the late Congress leader, Ghani Khan Choudhury”. Mr Pranab Mukherjee also criticised the state government’s policy to “grab” agricultural lands for the setting up of industries in South Bengal and at the same time, promised to oppose this move in every way possible. He alleged that the state government had also failed to utilise the Central assistance allotted for the poor people.“The state government has failed to properly implement the 100 days job guarantee programme as promised,” he alleged.Mr Mukherjee disagreed with the chief minister’s comment made against the border security forces and said that differences with the BSF would be sorted out with the help of the district monitoring committee constituted by public representatives.