Durgapur, Dec. 25: Union fi-nance minister Pranab Mukherjee today appealed to the people of Bengal to stand together in support of the state’s industrialisation.

“There is no alternative to setting up industries for employment generation. So everybody should join hands in favour of industrialisation,” Mukherjee, also the state Congress president, said.

The statement comes days after the chief minister appealed to the Opposition to “co-operate with the state government in its industry initiatives” and made a subtle distinction between the Congress and its ally Trinamul by listing a string of projects stalled because of the latter.

“Some parties are opposing the setting up of factories. We need more electricity, but they are opposing our plans to build the Katwa power plant. The Opposition is saying roads can’t be built when we are trying to widen National Highway 34. Please don’t take the wrong path, it will hamper development and ruin job opportunities,” he had said in Murshidabad earlier this month.

Mukherjee today echoed the chief minister. “No state can develop without new industries. So we want more and more industries in Bengal and elsewhere in the country. In Bengal, the industrialisation drive was initiated in the 1950s but it slowed down over the years. Now, it has again gathered momentum and we have to build more industries,” he said while opening the first phase of a forging and steel melting unit at Kanksa near Durgapur.

In an apparent dig at Trinamul leader Mamata Banerjee earlier, Mukherjee had said that those not in power now would realise the need for industry when they assumed office.

State urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya was on the dais when Mukherjee spoke. When he got his turn, Bhattacharya said: “It is now clear to everybody that there is no substitute for industrialisation. Besides setting up new plants, our government is also developing new housing projects.”