West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu will rush to Delhi today on an urgent summons from the CPI(M) politburo to discuss the political situation arising out of Sundays withdrawal of support by the Congress to the United Front government.
Basu will be in Delhi on April 2 and 3, sources close to him said here yesterday.
The Chief Minister, who attended the state Assembly for budget discussions of the home department, refused to talk to newsmen about the change in the political situation at the Centre.
Altough Basu did not attend yesterdays politburo and the United Front steering committee meetings scheduled in Delhi, he has been urged both by the politburo leadership and steering committee members to be personally present at the capital in view of the political developments there, sources said.
Meanwhile Basu yesterday lambasted the Congress for withdrawing support to the United Front government, saying by this sudden decision it had brought the country to the brink of collapse.
In a scathing attack, the Chief Minister said in the state assembly, Congress leaders take vital decision without consulting even among themselves. Look at Delhi, what you have done to the country.
Basu, who was replying to the budget discussions for his home (P and AR) department, took the opportunity to attack the Congress, which he described as a 111-year-old rotten political party embroiled in corruption, nepotism, opportunism and political fraud.
Continuing his tirade, Basu said that the party should have been wound up immediately after independence in tune with Gandhijis advice. This party has lost its relevance now and I wonder what Gandhiji would have thought of the Congress party of today had he been alive now.
Denying opposition charges against his Left front government being partisan and corrupt, the Chief Minister said such allegations were truly applicable to the Congress which has delved deep in corruption, nepotism, political opportunism and lately acts of fraudulence to stick in power.
In an indirect reference to former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Raos alleged involvement in the St. Kitts forgery case, Basu said it was amazing how the former premier, V P Singh, was sought to be implicated in a false case.
He also had a dig at the partys alleged move to bribe MPs to prove its majority in Parliament. There was a time when vital national issues were discussed in different fora of the Congress for overall national development, but the party had been in a state of decay, Basu said.
The Congress party has been pushing the country towards darkness, but I am certain that West Bengal will show India the light and my government is with the people, an agitated Basu said amidst frequent interruptions from the opposition Congress benches.
Listing his governments success, the Chief Minister said the decentralised administration in the state, introduced by the ruling Left front, had been paying dividends. Panchayat formation, successful land reforms, besides providing an efficient administration to the people had endeared the front government to the masses.
He alleged that the Congress party was responsible for closing the public sectors, stopping fertiliser subsidy to the farmers and causing more misery to the common people. The number of people below poverty line had mounted during the Congress tenure at the Centre.
Basu said the state vigilance commission had been working as a watchdog by investigating into allegations of malpractices and corruption in the public services. Efforts were on to remove the cumbersome procedures in the commission.
He said district planning committees had been formed to ensure more effective development in the districts. His government was alive to the lack of coordination between the IAS and WBCS officers in some areas of the administration.
