Setting her target on the CPI(M) and not on the Congress before the municipal polls, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee attacked the Left Front and the CPI(M) on her first day of campaigning. Addressing thousands of party workers at Shyambazar five-point crossing on Wednesday, Ms Banerjee thundered: “The Left Front is
ruling the state for 33 years and they are sitting in the civic body for the last five years. Yet, incidents like Stephen Court claim so many young lives in the city.”
From Stephen Court to the apparent disrespect shown to the likes of Rabindranath Tagore by the Communists, Ms Banerjee attacked the CPI(M) on all fronts. “They had called Tagore a bourgeoisie poet and banned his Sahaj Path in the state. After thirty years now, they have woken up before the polls and want to renovate the Nimtala Ghat where his last rights were performed,” she said. Reiterating that mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya was a “part-time” mayor, the Trinamul Congress chief alleged: “The mayor was more interested in filling his pockets from his practise as an advocate rather than concentrate on the welfare of people. Unplanned flyovers have come up in the city simply to facilitate the smooth passage of CPI(M) leaders.”
Ms Banerjee assured the citizens that a Trinamul Congress victory in the city will give them reasons to rejoice as well. “People have already been burdened with numerous taxes. We will not make things difficult by imposing the water tax for supplying potable water to different parts of the city,” she said.
Ms Banerjee added that if the Trinamul Congress came to power in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the entire tax structure will be simplified.