Mamata attacks Congress over UPA corruption

Kolkata, April 27 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday took on the Congress for attacking her party over the Saradha chit fund scam, questioning the corruption during the United Progressive Alliance's tenure.

"The Congress and the CPI-M are shameless. The Saradha scam started in 2000 during the Left Front regime. The Congress is talking about Saradha. How can you raise issues like corruption when there was corruption during the UPA?

"What about the corruption (coal and 2G scams) that prevailed during their time? How can they talk about us like that and go on spreading canards?" Banerjee said at an election rally in South 24 Parganas district.

In her maiden Q&A session with social media users on Facebook earlier this month, Banerjee had asserted "the Saradha man was arrested in 2012 by our government though Saradha started in 2000 under Left Front government under full protection of Left Front and central government".

The Trinamool Congress supremo dismissed CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra's claims that the alliance was on road to winning 200 of the 294 assembly seats in the state.

Banerjee challenged the tie-up to win 20 seats first and ridiculed the alliance's projections as a "gas balloon".

In an apparent reference to Mishra, Banerjee said the leader has already lost the polls.

"It is a gas balloon (that will burst when the gas leaks). Your (CPI-M) leader has lost... what will you do with the cadres?" she said.

Banerjee also lambasted a media house and accused it of spreading lies and canards against her.

"I have tolerated enough... I will take accountability for every inch. I don't want people to misunderstand me. I don't have any channel. I have a microphone. Slap me if you feel I have done wrong and I won't mind. But I do mind when someone insults my Bengal and my people," she said.