Congress President Sonia Gandhi, whose party heads a coalition at the Centre with outside support of the Left front, on Friday lambasted the Front for its "failure on all sectors" in West Bengal.
Addressing an election rally at Kaliaganj, near Raiganj, Gandhi alleged the Front had made no development in the past 30 years in the state. The number of unemployed youths was rising day by day. The government had not even contributed to Provident Fund of the employees for several years, she charged.
Gandhi said her party was "compelled" to take support of the Left at the Centre as "communal forces were gaining ground". It was for secularism that the UPA had to take Left Front support, she said.
She said all villages in the country would be electrified within three years under the Rajiv Gandhi Vidyut Yojna. Congress had also ensured hundred days work a year under the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Whatever development the state had was either initiated or implemented by Congress governments, she claimed.
{{/usCountry}}Whatever development the state had was either initiated or implemented by Congress governments, she claimed.
{{/usCountry}}She also added that the UPA government was seriously implementing its commitment made in the election manifesto in the last Lok Sabha poll.
The Congress Chief said Uttar Dinajpur was one of the districts in the country that was included in the rural employment scheme.
Earlier in Malda in her brief 10-minute speech she said the UPA government had met all demands of the state government. "The state government has got everything that they demanded from the UPA."
She said that after Independence, successive Congress governments had worked for the development of West Bengal.
Keeping in mind the erosion of Ganga and Padma rivers, a major problem in Malda and Murshidabad districts, Gandhi said that a task force had been formed and given its report. "We regard it as a national problem," she remarked.
She said that the UPA government had taken steps for the uplift of the poor, backward classes, minorities and the unemployed.
Gandhi addressed three election meetings at Murshidabad, Rayganj in Uttar Dinajpur district and Malda.