Berhampore (West Bengal):
Lashing out at the Congress, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged the leaders of the party would become "beggars" after the next year's Lok Sabha elections.
"Congress ministers (from Bengal) are always bad-mouthing us. They should not forget that today they are ministers only because of our support," Ms Banerjee said at a rally in Murshidabad.
"Everyone knows that they are going to lose the next Lok Sabha polls and after that will all become beggars," she added.
The Chief Minister said that her party, the Trinamool Congress, had decided to quit the UPA as it was trying to sell the country by pursuing "anti-people" policies.
"They brought FDI in retail, they withdrew subsidy on LPG. It affected the common man. So we decided to withdraw our support," Ms Banerjee said.
Alleging that the opposition CPM ruined the economy of the state in the last 35 years, she claimed, "They have amassed huge fortunes for themselves. You can see that a top CPI(M) leader has Rs 16 crore in his bank account. Where did the money come from?"
Without naming the State Election Commission, she said the state government had wanted the panchayat polls to be held either after or before Ramzan, but it was CPM which wanted it during the Muslim holy month.