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Vote Left Front out of power, Sonia urges Tripura voters
| Dismisses reports that the Congress would be soft on CPI(M)-ruled States; says it is a false campaign |
HARD-HITTING SPEECH: Congress president Sonia Gandhi at an election rally in Agartala on Monday.
Agartala: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday appealed to the people of Tripura to create history by voting out the ruling Left Front from power.
Addressing an election rally at the Astabal ground here, she said the people must defeat the Left Front in the February 23 Assembly elections to end its “misrule” and “injustice towards the people.”
Ms. Gandhi dispelled rumours that the Congress would be soft on the CPI(M)-ruled States because the latter supported the UPA government at the Centre. It was a false campaign, she said.
In a speech that lasted about 13 minutes, the UPA chairperson said the Congress took the support of the CPI(M) to fight the communal forces such as the Bharatiya Janata Party and to keep the NDA out of power. But that did not mean that it would not fight against injustice.
“We are fully with you in your fight against injustice and misrule of the Left Front government in Tripura.” Ms. Gandhi said she would go to West Bengal and tell the people there the same thing.
‘Women not safe’Ms. Gandhi, who was here on a day’s visit to campaign for her party, alleged that there was no semblance of law and order in the State. Women and children were not safe under the Left rule, she added.
Accusing the Left Front government of failing on the economic front, she alleged that it did not utilise about Rs 500 crore meant for development work. There were anomalies in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Bharat Nirman Programme. She was told that while there were more than five lakh unemployed youth in the State, the Left Front government was giving jobs to cadres of a party.
In an oblique reference to the Left Front’s criticism of the Congress’ alliance with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), she said: “Some people have accused us of forging alliance with the wrong people. I want to clarify that because of the Congress, several misguided youth had returned to the mainstream and taken part in the democratic exercise.”
Pointing to portraits of the former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi at the venue, she said they sacrificed their lives for national integration and social justice.
State Congress president Samir Ranjan Barman and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan also urged the voters to defeat the Left Front.
Earlier, Ms Gandhi flew to Dharmanagar and addressed an election rally. She said the Congress would give special attention to the tribal people, minorities and women in the State.
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