Misinformation by Left that we are soft on them: Sonia

Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today said the Congress had no soft corner whatsoever for the Left...

Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today said the Congress had no soft corner whatsoever for the Left just because the latter had provided it support at the Centre and called upon Tripura’s voters to oust it from power.

She also indicated that the Congress party’s “oust-Left” campaign has begun from Tripura and that she will take it right into West Bengal, the strongest Left bastion in the country which goes to Assembly polls later this year. She was addressing a rally organized by the Congress and its allies in here today.

“It is not true that we (Congress) have taken a soft stand against the Left Front because they had helped us form the government at the Centre. It is nothing but a misinformation campaign launched by the Left. We took their support only to keep the BJP, NDA and communal forces out. I will also go to West Bengal and tell them the same thing,” she said.

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The Congress president was here to campaign for Assembly elections to be held on Saturday. For the Congress, which has been out of power in Tripura for three consecutive terms, regaining the state is a matter of prestige — and a stiff challenge.

Right now, the party is in power on its own only in one of the eight Northeast states, Arunachal Pradesh, while it is heading alliances in Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur.

Sonia, who slammed the Left — it has been in power for 15 years at a stretch — for its “misrule” and “deteriorating law and order” situation, said: “There is a limit to everything. Women and girls here are living in the worst conditions. Women are not safe. Children here are not safe. The law and order situation has been bad. (Then) on what basis is the Left Front asking the people to elect them again?”

She also accused the Left Front government of being unable to utilize Rs 500 crore provided by the Centre for roads and infrastructure projects. “The Centre also provided funds for road connectivity to over 175 villages in this state. But where are the roads?” she asked.

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She criticised the Left Front government’s alleged mismanagement of funds and projects funded under NREGA and accused it of even not paying the wages to the people as prescribed by the Centre. “We must put an end to this and the election is the right time to do that,” she said.

On the Left’s campaign that the Congress had joined hands with “terrorist” groups like the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), the Congress chief claimed it was to the credit of the Congress party that a number of “misguided groups and people” have come back to the mainstream and joined the democratic process.