New Delhi: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh was all praise for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today for showing "political courage" in transforming Jungle Mahal, a former Naxal hotbed in the state.
The praise comes days after he took a jibe at the Trinamool Congress supremo for her "brain-dead" comment on the UPA government, prompting the feisty leader to hit back at him for using "vindictive, unethical and unconstitutional" language in an official letter addressed to her.
"She may not be our ally now but I must say that she had transformed the scenario in Jungle Mahal. She had shown the political courage required for the changes in the Naxal-affected areas," the minister said after meeting West Bengal Rural Development Minister Subrato Mukherjee in Delhi.
Last month Ms Banerjee took serious umbrage to Mr Ramesh writing to her that the 'brain dead government in Delhi' was sensitive to the needs of people of the state. Mr Ramesh's jibe at the Chief Minister came after she had compared the UPA to a patient on his death bed. "It is now brain-dead and on ventilator...," she had said.
Mr Ramesh also said Ms Banerjee's approach to tackle the Naxal problem in the eastern state was 'right'. "The kind of political mobilisation that happened in Jungle Mahal during the last two years is worth mentioning and one should not take away the credit due to her", he said.
He also lauded West Bengal government's role in speedy execution of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme.
The praise comes days after he took a jibe at the Trinamool Congress supremo for her "brain-dead" comment on the UPA government, prompting the feisty leader to hit back at him for using "vindictive, unethical and unconstitutional" language in an official letter addressed to her.
"She may not be our ally now but I must say that she had transformed the scenario in Jungle Mahal. She had shown the political courage required for the changes in the Naxal-affected areas," the minister said after meeting West Bengal Rural Development Minister Subrato Mukherjee in Delhi.
Last month Ms Banerjee took serious umbrage to Mr Ramesh writing to her that the 'brain dead government in Delhi' was sensitive to the needs of people of the state. Mr Ramesh's jibe at the Chief Minister came after she had compared the UPA to a patient on his death bed. "It is now brain-dead and on ventilator...," she had said.
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Mr Ramesh also said Ms Banerjee's approach to tackle the Naxal problem in the eastern state was 'right'. "The kind of political mobilisation that happened in Jungle Mahal during the last two years is worth mentioning and one should not take away the credit due to her", he said.
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He also lauded West Bengal government's role in speedy execution of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme.
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