Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013

Kolkata

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi reached out to Trinamool Congress (TMC) founder and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee and said that Bengal is progressing on the right path of development and also emphasised that Non-Congress states are being discriminated against by the Congress party-led central government.

Modi who moved his road-show to Kolkata on Tuesday, in his bid to be the prime ministerial candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was addressing a programme organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce, MCC Chamber of Commerce and the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

“It has taken us 10 years to undo the damage that the Congress had done in Gujarat. In Bengal it was even worse. The Left has done so much damage for the last 32 years that two years is not enough for any government to undo them.

“What a sight of destruction they left. That’s why the new government has to toil for years to undo them. The state is progressing in the right direction and I believe that the state government will fulfil Bengal’s dream,” Modi said, warning the media he is not in Bengal to draw a comparison between the states, but to learn.

“The central government’s work machinery is at a standstill. The UPA government at the Centre is discriminating against non-Congress governments while lending funds for development. There is different kind of treatment for Congress states and a different kind of treatment for non-UPA states.

“It is natural that people in power in these states raise their voice against this. We cannot allow this. Any state can undergo financial crisis. We had power to tolerate this discrimination. Maybe Bengal has less power to tolerate,” the BJP leader said.

The statement came at a time when Banerjee is in Delhi with allegations of discrimination against Bengal. She is to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram regarding what she calls Bengal’s legitimate demand.

Modi was also at his diplomatic best when he said, replying to media questions about his prime ministerial ambitions. “A politician may have the desire to become prime minister, but I am not a politician. I am an apolitical person.”

Cornering the Congress government Modi said that when former prime minister AB Vajpayee led the National Democratic Alliance there was no such discrimination against Bengal and even the ruling Left Front did not complain.

“During that time, he said, there was a buzz in the air of progress and of good things to come. India expected much from the 21st century. However, when the UPA came to power people can actually see the decline of India in front of our eyes. This is happening because of the UPA. The government at the Centre is hitting out at all non-UPA states. There is rampant injustice,” Modi stated.

As expected Left leaders were least bemused by Modi’s comments. “TMC has always kept good relation with BJP and particularly Modi in spite of the carnage he created in [the] 2002 riots. His wish of becoming PM will never be fulfilled, he will be stuck in Gujarat,” said Left Front chairman Biman Bose.

Congress accused TMC of trying to move towards the communal forces. “We know TMC is keen to join BJP if they come close to power. They had been a part of it, earlier. This is nothing new,” said state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharyya.

By Archisman Dinda Correspondent

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