Agartala: The Communist government in Tripura will be voted out in the Feb 14 assembly election, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said Monday.
“People in Kerala and West Bengal have voted out the Left parties, you must follow the same for all of your betterment and development of the state,” Gandhi told the audience at an election rally in Tripura.
A day before the end of campaign, Gandhi addressed four election rallies — at Sonamura and Khayerpur in west Tripura, Santir Bazar in south Tripura and Dharmanagar in north Tripura.
He said the Communists always served their own interests and did not care much for the common man.
“What ever funds are coming from the central government, be it MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) or any welfare scheme, these are going to CPI-M cadres and the middle men, not to the people,” the Congress leader said in Hindi.
If the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led government was allowed to remain in power, “you will not get any government help”, Gandhi told the audience.
Accompanied by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and Luizinho Faleiro, Congress general secretary in-charge of northeastern states, Gandhi said that while most states were moving towards development, Tripura became backward and poor during the 20 years of the Left rule.
Gandhi also questioned the communist ideology. “Globalisation is a reality. The Indian Communists never accepted the truth that the world has changed.”
He said he had heard that only Left supporters were getting government jobs and other facilities in the state.
Gandhi said the Congress-led central government wanted to give more power to the tribal autonomous district council in Tripura for the development of the tribals, who constitute one-third of the state’s 3.7 million population.
“Tripura ki aawaz Dilli tak le jaunga (I will take Tripura’s voice to Delhi). We are concerned for the state,” Gandhi added.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi earlier cancelled their trips to the Left-ruled state for the election campaign.
The prime minister postponed his election campaign tour to Tripura and Nagaland due to some work related to Parliament attack plotter Afzal Guru’s execution in Delhi while Sonia Gandhi cancelled her trip due to illness.
Tripura will vote for a new 60-member Tripura assembly Feb 14. The results will be out Feb 28.
-IANS
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