Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got support from an unexpected quarter today. Contradicting his party’s stand, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee came out in public support of the PM, saying he was a man of ‘honesty and integrity’.
“On the corruptions that are happening now, I personally believe that the Prime Minister is an honest man. There is no doubt that he is a man of integrity. But there is something wrong with the system,” said Bhattacharjee, during the 24th Industrial India Trade Fair in Kolkata.
The CM’s comment comes at a time when his CPI(M) party has been accusing the Manmohan Singh government of failing to curb corruption.
However, Bhattacharjee was critical of the Centre’s economic policies. Speaking on the country’s positive gross domestic product (GDP), he said, “The country’s current GDP growth figures are encouraging. But only GDP growth won’t do, there are larger problems like poverty and unemployment, which the government should solve.”
He trained his guns on power brokers, politicians and corporates, who were allegedly involved in scams. “Corporates, politicians, even media persons acted as power brokers. They looted a huge sum of money. More than Rs 1,76,000 crore.” The CM expressed his resentment against the stand taken on industrialisation and development by opposition parties, like the Trinamool Congress.