Buddhadeb

Dhulian, May 5: Hours after Sonia Gandhi described the state government as “worthless”, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee launched a rebuttal saying she would not be able to “save the sinking ship named Congress”.

The chief minister said: “Let Sonia Gandhi point out any state other than West Bengal which has achieved so much development. Even her husband Rajiv Gandhi had praised our panchayati raj system.”

On a day’s visit, Sonia told a string of gatherings in Malda and Murshidabad yesterday that the Left Front had failed to deliver in its 27-year regime.

Addressing an election rally here, about 280 km from Calcutta, Bhattacharjee ruled out his party’s support to the Congress, even if it is in a position to form a government at the Centre. Instead, he predicted that a third front would emerge as an alternative to the BJP-led coalition. “A government will be formed with the help of Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the DMK, the Asom Gana Parishad…. We condemn the BJP and the Congress equally.”

In South 24-Parganas, Bhattacharjee’s predecessor Jyoti Basu said: “She (Sonia) spoke nonsense. I could not make out what she sought to convey.”

“No secular government can be formed at the Centre without the support of the leftists.”

Earlier, the veteran leader had said the CPM would back a Sonia-led government from outside.

Dhulian is part of Jangipur constituency, where the Congress has fielded state party chief Pranab Mukherjee. The CPM’s Abu Hasnat is his main rival.

Bhattacharjee said: “We feel sorry for the lady when we see her criss-crossing the country with her son and daughter. The Congress is now a family-based party. How can one expect Sonia Gandhi to revive it…?”