Sukhu addresses a press conference in Kolkata
Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu reached Kolkata, West Bengal, today for the Congress party’s election campaign. Addressing a press conference, he criticized the central BJP government and the ruling state government. He said that under the Trinamool government, West Bengal has lagged far behind in terms of development and that the people of the state have witnessed only corruption. He said that the state government has betrayed the people and that West Bengal is being run by a syndicate. He added that slogans alone are not enough; it is the responsibility of the government to put the state on the path of development. He stated that the Congress party is the only ideology in the country that respects all religions and castes. He emphasized that bringing Congress to power in West Bengal is essential for strengthening democracy and securing the state’s future.
The Chief Minister said that after 20 years, the Congress party has fielded candidates on all 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal. He said that once Congress forms the government, the pace of development in the state will be accelerated. He stated that the central government has discriminated against West Bengal and has not given a single new project to the state. He further claimed that all the projects currently running in West Bengal were initiated during the tenure of the Congress government at the Centre. He also accused the central government of weakening MGNREGA, thereby depriving lakhs of people of employment. He said that MGNREGA was the result of the vision of senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, but the current government has effectively ended it by turning it into an allocation-based scheme instead of a demand-based one. He remarked that the BJP is good at slogans but fails to deliver on the ground.
Shri Sukhu said that the Congress party is the true protector of women. He noted that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had provided reservation for women in Panchayati Raj institutions, reflecting the party’s vision. He said that the Women’s Reservation Bill, which was brought by the central government and the BJP, was part of a political strategy that ultimately failed. He said that opposition parties ensured that no such conspiracy would succeed. He further stated that the central government should have consulted all parties after the ongoing Assembly elections before passing the bill. He added that since the bill had already received approval in 2023, it should have been implemented rather than reintroduced with political motives.
Referring to Himachal Pradesh, he said that the Congress government has fulfilled the guarantees it made to the people during state election and was working towards making the state self-reliant. He stated that during the previous BJP government in Himachal, despite having a double-engine government, the people were betrayed. He claimed that in the last six months of the BJP government’s tenure, freebies worth Rs. 5,000 crore were distributed, which harmed the state’s financial condition. He further alleged that the central government has now stopped Revenue Deficit Grant and was trying to halt development projects.
