Lack of leadership hitting Bengal’s development projects: Uma Bharti

Kolkata, April 14 (IANS) Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Friday blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for failing to provide leadership to take forward developmental projects and only indulging in "politics of hatred". The state's ruling Trinamool Congress however dismissed the charges.

"They (the state government officials) are under an illusion. They have no guidance, no leadership. There is nobody to guide them because Mamata has badly propagated politics of hatred in Bengal. She has not propagated politics of development," Uma Bharti told the media here.

She said the lack of guidance is responsible for the state's "poor condition".

"That is why Bengal's people, IAS and IPS officers, engineers have lost the concept of development, good law and order... they have lost their brilliance and their impact and this is why Bengal is in shambles," she said.

Criticising the projects that are implemented by the state government, Uma Bharti said she is "frustrated" with the execution of the irrigation schemes.

"People in Bengal are not getting the benefits of the Central schemes. I am myself frustrated with the irrigation schemes because whenever they develop a project, there are a lot of gaps and we can't release funds for it.

Rubbishing the BJP leader's claims, Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said the state has seen "unprecedented development" since his party came to power.

He urged the central government to release the fund for the state that has been stopped so far.

"Bengal has been floosed with Mamata Banerjee's developmental initiatives in the last six years. I would once again ask the Central government to think about the betterment of the state and release the funds for various state welfare projects that has been stopped by them," Chatterjee said.

"The state government is in favour of progress and development. We are always there for the betterment of people," he added.