Advani: Pro-active

April 28: Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani today charged the Left Front with terrorising voters in the run-up to the May 10 polls even as he showered praise on Mamata Banerjee.

At Balurghat in north Bengal, Advani singled out Mamata for praise for her initiative on the Eklakhi-Balurghat railway project, side-stepping the bifurcation of rail zones in which he supported Mamata’s successor as railway minister Nitish Kumar. His terror tag on the state, too, echoed Mamata’s charges against the state government.

Relations between Advani and Mamata had soured in the past three years following her resignation as railway minister in the wake of the Tehelka expose. After that, Advani was known to have opposed Mamata’s return to the Union cabinet.

“Marxists here are resorting to violence to get votes. But you cast your votes fearlessly as communists are virtually non-existent not only in India, but across the world. Gone are the days when the communists had their MPs and MLAs elected from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Their penchant for violence has alienated them from the masses,” Advani told a rally at Khakurdah in West Midnapore, about 160 km from Calcutta.

On a day’s visit to the state, the deputy Prime Minister addressed three rallies in support of BJP and Trinamul Congress nominees. But though high on praise for the ally, Advani avoided campaigning in Calcutta, where the Trinamul candidates are believed to be locked in a closer fight with their CPM rivals than any in the recent past.

Pointing at Trinamul nominee for Panskura Hema Choubey, Advani said: “See, this woman is a victim of the reign of terror unleashed by the Marxists.”

Trinamul has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission saying Hema, the widow of Gautam Choubey who was murdered by criminals allegedly backed by the Forward Bloc, could not campaign because of “constant threats”.

At Durgapur and Balurghat, Advani slammed the Congress and echoed Mamata in dubbing the party the CPM’s “B-team”.

“Between 1988 and 1998, the country has seen seven prime ministers. It was only Atal Bihari Vajpayee who ensured stability in the past six years,” he said.

In its election manifesto, Trinamul had made it clear that its support to the NDA was directly related to Vajpayee being its leader.

The deputy Prime Minister said 48 years of Congress rule in the country and 27 years of Left rule in Bengal have done no good to the people. “Both parties are equally responsible for the lack of development in the state. The people have rejected the Congress. It is time the people rejected the CPM here,” he added.