CPI(M) vows to fight it out in panchayat polls

"We take credit for setting up the panchayat system in West Bengal and we want to tell the Trinamool Congress in clear terms that we have not left the electoral battleground," Bhattacharjee told a Left Front rally here in South 24 Parganas district.

"We will not let panchayats die a slow death. We will revive them after the polls," he said.

Claiming that people were disappointed at the functioning of the Trinamool Congress government which has taken away the powers of panchayats and rural bodies, he asked, "Is this the paribartaan (change) that the Trinamool has ushered in West Bengal?"

He said "In the last one year and eight months, the state retreated from the path of development with industry touching zero since the Left Front went out of power."

Criticising the ruling party for negating the opportunity of creation of about 10,000 jobs in Singur by forcing the Tatas out, Bhattacharjee said that projects amounting to Rs one lakh crore were missed at Nandigram and later at Nayachar where the Trinamool Congress resisted the Left Front government's move to set up a chemical hub. MORE