Kolkata:
No mincing of words, no diplomatic sparring; Rahul Gandhi took on the Left head on in their own territory at that. The Left, he said, was Bengal's biggest problem, and worse.
"The single biggest problem in Bengal today is the Left Front. When I go to China, Chinese leaders are astounded at what the Left is doing in Bengal. They do not understand and ask me what are the Communists doing in Bengal... with a smile on their face. The energy of Bengal, the dynamism of Bengal has been captured by this dead ideology and it is about time we throw this dead ideology out and let Bengal flourish," he said.
This is the second time in less than two weeks that Rahul has slammed the Left. At a rally in Kolkata on September 6, he had talked of two Bengal's - the prosperous one of the CPM and the other of the poor. The Left had reacted sharply then. It did so again today.
"In the last five years, the country's progress in agriculture is less than two per cent whereas Bengal is above 4.7 per cent, if you talk about investment, West Bengal in third among all the states in the country. He should be better informed," CPM leader Nilotpal Basu said.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya refused to react to Rahul's comments. But even if the Left wants to take a line out of the paean to Mohammed Ali and say Rahul floats like a butterfly, they may also feel that he could sting like a bee.