CPI-M's days are numbered: Rahul

Alleging there were "two Bengals", one of the poor and the other of the privileged people of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi criticised West Bengal's Left Front government at his first ever rally today.

Alleging there were "two Bengals", one of the poor and the other of the privileged people of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi criticised West Bengal's Left Front government at his first ever rally on Monday.

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"CPI-M does not belong to the poor people of the state - the adivasis, the marginalised and the poor," said Gandhi, who is on a day's visit to Kolkata.

The CPI-M runs a privileged network of its people and shares the benefits of the administration through its "mafia-type" set-up, Gandhi alleged to thunderous applause from thousands of supporters.

Recalling his recent visit to Russia, he said: "In Russia, the communist regime came to end suddenly one day. It will happen here (West Bengal) too."

Gandhi arrived in Kolkata earlier in the day to launch the membership drive of the Youth Congress in the state.

Clad in a white kurta-pyjama, he arrived at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose international airport a little after noon to the cheers of "Rahul Gandhi zindabad" from the assembled party workers and activists.

Congress general secretary K. Keshava Rao, who is in charge of the party's West Bengal affairs, state Congress chief Manas Bhuniya and Congress MP Mausam Benazir Noor accompanied Gandhi.

He is scheduled to meet state party leaders at the state Congress office, Bidhan Bhavan.