Mamata responsible for investors leaving Bengal: CPI-M

Refering to the Banerjee led movement in Hooghly district's Singur between 2006 and 2008 which forced automobile major Tata Motors to relocate their proposed small car Nano plant to Sanand in Gujarat, CPI-M leader Surjya Kanta Mishra said it has only benefited the western state.

Banerjee, in her speech at the opening of the "Bengal Leads" summit at East Midnapore district's Haldia, had taken strong exception on comparison of her state with Gujarat saying the western state enjoyed geographical, demographical and financial advantages over Bengal.

Attacking the erstwhile Left Front regime, she said Bengal had to cope with regular shutdowns and strikes while the Bharatiya Janata Party-governed state had no such trouble.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader took the opportunity to take a dig at her.

"It is due to our chief minister that Gujarat has an additional advantage. She drove away the Nano Car factory from Singur in the state to Sanand in Gujarat. Based on the automobile factory, Gujarat has drawn lot of other companies in the sector," said Mishra, leader of the opposition in the state assembly.

However, he did not agree with Banerjee keeping Gujarat ahead on the developmental front.

"When we were in power for 34 years, we followed a development model that gave utmost priority to human development. Gujarat is behind us in some human development aspects. There is severe malnutrition among children in Gujarat, which also ranks higher in the global hunger index," he said.

"It for our chief minister, to choose one of the two models," he said.

He also took pot shots at the government for the absence of big names at the summit. "I saw the opening on television. But I did not see one leading industrialist from outside the state. The chief minister kept on calling investors. But none of them had turned up".

Mishra also dismissed Banerjee's assertion that her regime has formed a land bank from where entrepreneurs could get land.

"Whatever land is being given to industrialists is from the land bank created by the Left Front government. Not even an inch of extra land has been given by the current government".

Congress also called the meet a failure and mockery of an industrial summit.

"It is unfortunate that the government has failed to draw any big industrialist," said state Congress leader Abdul Mannan.