Leaders who never cared for Bengal are here now before polls: Mamata Banerjee

Clearly rattled by Rahul Gandhi’s barbs against her government, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that at election time, leaders who never cared for Bengal arrived from Delhi and made irresponsible statements.

“Do not pay heed to their statements. They have perennially deprived Bengal,” she said, adding that the Congress and CPI(M) always hatched conspiracies and spread canards against her.

Slamming the Congress for joining hands with the CPI(M) in Bengal to fight against Trinamul Congress, she said, “The national Congress party has turned into a creeper and is now trying to survive on the strength of other parties. No wonder the Congress has now broken into pieces because of its wrong policies and for having no ideology,” Ms Banerjee said.

Continuing her tirade against the Congress, she said the party had been reduced to a signboard.

“After the Assembly election, even this signboard will disappear,” she added.

Ridiculing the CPI(M), she said the comrade has now become a Congrade.

“Today, the two parties have merged into each other after shedding their respective ideologies,” she added.

In Kolkata another heavyweight TMC leader Partha Chatterjee also took pot-shots at the Congress vice-president, describing him as a “kid” and claiming his party would become a “signboard party” after the poll.

“He is a khokha babu (kid), he has come here to help the CPI(M). The people of Bengal will give them (Congress and CPI-M) a befitting reply in the polls. The Congress will turn into a signboard party after the election. They have no political value for the masses,” ruling party secretary general Mr Chatterjee added. TMC insiders said the party leadership was extremely worried about the impact of the Left-Congress alliance in the polls.