Kolkata, Jan 3: West Bengal leader of Opposition Suryakanta Mishra today charged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with trying to be more Leftist than the Leftists.
“We have been noticing that she (Banerjee) is trying to be more Leftist than us Leftists,” the CPI(M) leader told newspersons here while responding to charges levelled against the former Left Front government in the state by the chief minister earlier in the day.
“She has displayed this attitude during the FDI in retail controversy,” he said.
Alleging that she was not practising what she was preaching on other issues, Mishra said “when we brought a motion in Parliament against price rise, she voted with the Congress.”
“She did the same in case of FDI in insurance sector,” he claimed.
Regarding the Lokpal Bill issue, he said “we are amazed that Trinamool Congress could take different stands in the Lok Sabha and another in the Rajya Sabha.”
Claiming that it was a got-up game, Mishra said “we feel UPA government deliberately spoiled the Lokpal Bill and Trinamool Congress is part of the got-up game.”
Taking a dig at Banerjee for stating that the present government was having to use its brains to carry on development work due to paucity of funds, he said “I hope she will go ahead with development projects spending brains and not money.”
“Central funds for projects like MNREGA and JRY are being returned as no work is being done under these schemes,” he said adding that if work could not be done owing to paucity of funds, then why was the money meant for 100 per cent centrally-funded projects were being returned.
Alleging that nearly 10 farmers have committed suicide in Burdwan district last year, Mishra said the state government's failure to protect the farmers' interests like ensuring minimum support price for produce like paddy and jute was leading to the farmers taking the extreme step.
