Kolkata, April 25 (IANS) Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are "both two sides of the same coin", considering that none of them care about the aspirations of the common people.
"The Prime Minister claims that he is a true nationalist. But he had done nothing for the poor people. He had done everything for the millionaires. Before the Left Front rule, Congress ruled West Bengal. At that time there were several industries in the state," LoP Gandhi said while addressing a campaign rally at Sreerampore in West Bengal's Hooghly district.
The Congress leader added, "Mamata Banerjee, too, like PM Narendra Modi, does not care for employment generation for the youth. Both the Prime Minister and the West Bengal Chief Minister are bothered about themselves. What PM Narendra Modi is doing in India, that is exactly what Mamata Banerjee is doing in West Bengal."
Speaking at the rally, LoP Gandhi said that there is competitive corruption between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the national level and Trinamool Congress at the state level.
"Top Trinamool Congress leaders were involved in chit fund, coal smuggling and cash-for-job scams. Trinamool Congress had started extortion tax throughout the state. The BJP spreads violence at the national level, while Trinamool Congress spreads violence at the state-level in West Bengal," he added.
He also questioned the fate of five lakh jobs that Mamata Banerjee promised in 2011 immediately after becoming the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
"Has a single person got a job? More than 84 lakh youths in West Bengal have applied for the unemployment allowance. This is the real and pathetic picture of West Bengal now. Mamata Banerjee had done nothing for the people of West Bengal in the last 15 years," LoP Gandhi added.
He also said that Prime Minister Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister had a clandestine arrangement, because of which there had not been a single case filed against her.
"Congress is fighting against the BJP. They have snatched my house. I am on bail. They have snatched my Lok Sabha membership. There are 36 cases against me. Even if I go to Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bihar, I have to appear in cases every 10 to 15 days. How many cases are there against Mamata Banerjee? How many hours has Mamata Banerjee been questioned? I was questioned for 55 hours and for five days in a row. There is no action against Mamata Banerjee. Why? Because she does not directly fight with the BJP," LoP Gandhi added.
